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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Logic and Imagination in 
the Perception of Truth 



The Nature of Pure 
Activity in two series 
Book I and Book II 

By 
J. Rush Stoner, M. A. 




Cochrane Publishing Company 

Tribune Building 

New York 

1910 



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Copyright, 1910, by 
Cochrane Publishing Ca 



®CUa7l2(50 



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TO 

GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD, 

A beloved Professor whose interest encouraged! the 

writing of this work, the following pages are 

reverently dedicated by 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 

This is an attempt to review some scientific and 
philosophic principles within the ordinary modes 
of research and the categories of the plain man's 
way of thinking. There has been a humble attempt 
at analyzing the forms of knowledge and belief, but 
this does not claim more than to have touched upon 
that vast realm of the Reason that makes possible 
the universal synthesizing activity of the Mind's 
Life in the World of Experience. 

If this little book shall strengthen the belief in 
immortality, revive the faith of the Eternal Pres- 
ence, suggest some good and fruitful ways of 
actualizing the teleological principle in life, restore 
the freshness of a withered hope, show the way in 
any degree to the establishment of a permanent 
rational faith, inspire some aspiring life with a 
little good-will and happiness of social relations in 
the Citadel of Peace, and encourage the strongly 
brave Spirit of invincible conquest under the com- 
mission of Truth to some worthy achievement in 
the realm of science, literature, or art — the author 
shall deem it a recompense. 

The plan has been to take note of some of the 
scientific investigators and philosophers whose 
works have been epoch-making influences in the 
past; and probably the nearest approach to physi- 



PREFACE 

cal science is a sketch f the principle of motion 
that represents double parallelism, "X" radiation, 
balance and equilibrium of gravitating centers, 
equality and inequality in the distribution of 
energy, the corresponding curves described by the 
different centers in motion, and the influence of 
the mechanical and dynamical; since this seems 
to be suggestive of the relation of mechanism and 
teleology. 

The general attitude is repulsive toward the 
abyss of human imagination represented in the 
Commonwealth, of Hobbes' Leviathan, and atten- 
tion is drawn to some experiments and suggestions 
of the relation of mechanism and teleology in 
observation and the consideration of after-images, 
and the construction of Ideal Experience. Al- 
truism or Life in Other Worlds represents some 
remarkably characteristic plays of the imagin- 
ation, and imaginary experiences that show some 
alliance with scientific facts and observations. 
There are comparative views of scientists and 
philosophers, with special attention to the use 
of the imagination in religious experience; the 
Social Consciousness and the Social Self; notions, 
thought unities, — in their purity and ultimate 
form ; the reality of the past in the permanence of 
the present. The embodied historical appearance 
of the Absolute may be all that holds as existent 
experience in time. 

Regarding Logic in particular, I think that it 
should not be mixed up with concrete forms and 
characteristics of the experience that is found 



PREFACE 

ready at hand as impressions. Pure Logic of the 
Imagination deals with pure notions and handles 
the conceptions as such ; and as a consequence may 
there not also be a corresponding perception as a 
logical issue? 

In the preparation of this work I owe much to 
other sources, writers and thinkers of inestimable 
value and influence; but this assistance has been 
of a character too general and evasive to admit of 
any classification here. 

Book Two is a humble attempt at a statement 
of the fundamental principles of Christianity, as 
they have been discerned by an individual who be- 
lieves in the practical application of the Christian 
principles in their original purity of doctrine, and 
highest purpose of spiritual freedom with the 
actualization of Universal peace and Universal 
good will. 

The glorified Christ in the prophetic history and 
visions that adorn the religious consciousness of 
the Race, and restore the full Spiritual Conscious^ 
ness of the divine Life of Perfect Ethical relation- 
ships, — this must determine any consideration of 
the nature and character of Pure Activity. What* 
is True is true; what is false is false. In the light 
of Perfect and clear Judgment, the false is not; but 
the True is True, is Real, is Ideal, is Love, is Fame, 
is Glory and renown. 

It is incumbent for the Christ Ideal to convey the 
profoundest faith to the sympathetic believer. 

J. RUSH STONER. 

Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 14th, 1908. 



CONTENTS 

BOOK ONE 

PAET I PAGE 

Logic as Science and Logic as Art . . 13 

PAET II 

Wonder and the Awe-Inspiring Element 

of Scientific Observation .... 37 

PART III 
Knowledge and Happiness 60 

PAET IV 

Thp Ideal-Real Unity of Perception . . 88 

PAET V 

Voluntary Control of Attention and Ee- 

ligious Experience 112 

PAET VI 

The Eelation of Art and Eeligion to 

Ideals . 137 

PAET VII 

The Principle of Perfection and the 

Moral Ideal 162 

PAET VIII 

Uniformity of Law and Divine Eevelation 
in the Free Activity of the Prophetic 

Spirit 187 

PAET IX 

The Significance of the Ethical Concep- 
tion of Self . . 212 



CONTENTS— Continued 

PART X PAGE 

The Uniqueness of Spiritual Individuality 239 

PART XI 

The Relation op Ideas and Aesthetic 

Sentiments 265 



BOOK TWO 

PART I 
The Divine Reason, Love or Logos of the 

Universe 281 

PART II 

Coactivity with God . 293 

PART III 

The Unity of Knowledge in Faith and 

Love 308 

PART IV 

The Qualifications of Self-Poise in the 

Ideal 323 

PART V 

The Nature of Pure Activity .... 336 

PART VI 

The Nature of Pure Activity (continued) 350 

PART VII 
A Day of Rest in Freedom Through Pure 

Activity ........... 370 



BOOK ONE 



Logic and Imagination in the 
Perception of Truth 



PART I. 

LOGIC AS SCIENCE AND LOGIC AS ART. 

There are problems that are central in logic, 
epistemology and metaphysics; and these all cling 
around the conception of Truth. Truth, then, is the 
central conception of Being in all its phases and 
manifestations — active or passive, individual or 
social. 

The central problems in logic may be classified by 
Logic as Science, and by Logic as Art. Logic as 
Science is concerned with the framework of Reality, 
while Logic as Art is concerned with the Ideal me- 
thods of constructive and creative design. The one 
might be said to make a chief end of all truth while 
the other must hold to the final purpose of beautiful 
design in the cosmic order of Universal Truth. In- 
teresting and important as Logic has proved to 
scientific methods of treatment in the past, the rela- 
tion of Logic and Aesthetics is just as vital and 
even more suggestive of the limitless sphere which 
is its rightful and undisputed domain. The central 
problems of Epistemology are not only concerned 
with the limits of knowledge, but with the nature 
and scope of knowledge and its extent. It is need- 



14 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

less to add that the central problems! of Metaphysics 
are not confined merely to the logical or the epis- 
temological realm, but are concerned with truth 
and reality all the way from realism to Absolute 
idealism. On the first critical analysis of experi- 
ence, that which seems most real to the plain man's 
consciousness is mind and body. And then, when 
reduced to scientific treatment, comes in the doc- 
trine of parallelism and what it involves. In the 
more purely mental science and philosophy the same 
distinction is subtly carried through and worked out 
in logic as science and logic as art. In this sphere 
we come face to face with the doctrine of the cat- 
egories, and one is inclined to ask whether the arti- 
ficial distinction between deduction and induction 
can be effectively broken down? This involves the 
entire process of analysis and synthesis, and the 
different methods result in different types of syn- 
thesis. Does intellection proceed by analysis or 
synthesis, or is there a principle of constructive 
idealism by which the mind transcends experience 
by postulates? Intellection probably proceeds by 
both methods, but the one may be said to be more 
characteristic of the human, and the other of the 
Divine, creative Reason. Each experience has the 
characteristic of uniqueness. The statement that 
"everything is only repeated in life," is just the 
opposite of the truth. 

The nature of any attempt to inquire into the 
process of intellection considered as analytic or syn- 
thetic, implies at least some account of discriminat- 
ing consciousness relative to external reality. But 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 15 

as Professor James says, "We all cease analyzing 
the world at some point and notice no more differ- 
ence. The last units with which we stop are our 
objective elements of being." And 1 Being, I think, 
undoubtedly is the activity of the essential nature 
of that which is. Suffice it to say that the idealistic 
point of view required in the investigation of our 
general subject, asserts the immanent Idea as the 
essence of elements and individuals. Whatever 
form the appearance of things and Selves may take, 
it is the Ideal that is the Real in the truest sense of 
that term, Since it may not be necessary to ex- 
amine in detail that phase of intellection concerned 
with old time realism, I will merely state a few 
points and inferences formed in a general way. 
Hobhouse says, "What has been called the 'moment 
of reflection' shows me my apprehending conscious- 
ness with its quality on the one hand and the thing 
apprehended on the other." This does not neces- 
sarily imply that the individual mind apprehends a 
quality of his own consciousness, but rather starts 
With the judgment process or the discriminating 
activity in forming the truth judgment or concept 
of what may be either a quality of one's own con- 
sciousness, or an objective to be apprehended with 
the presence of its quality as an assertion. The 
really existent content qualifying the apprehending 
consciousness may be as much an inference from the 
comparison of facts as the existence of an indepen- 
dent object. It is a mistake for natural or intuitive 
realism to assume that the perfect percept is inde- 
pendently and immediately given, and for subjective 



16 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

idealism to assume that the object is first given as 
inward. It is very likely not presented in either of 
these ways, but rather as a present state of con- 
sciousness. A state of consciousness is not a static 
affair, but a moment of consciousness in which the 
ideal activities are synthetic, harmonious and uni- 
fied. Whether the percept is a content existing 
merely as a qualification of such a state, or inde- 
pendently, it is to be "found out only by studying 
its behavior and relations;" and the conclusion in 
any case is a judgment depending on inference, 
though it may be a logical process that takes place 
too quickly for the mind to be conscious of its own 
activity in knowing or perceiving. That the mind 
has a natural affinity for truth, is incumbent on the 
perception of truth to show for itself. 

We need to make no attempt to reduce thought to 
a retention or combination of sense elements. In 
fact, a combination of presented elements would 
still be a sensation. It is only when these states 
combine with experience, intellectual intuitions 
some say, that they can enter into judgment; and 
perhaps no logical analysis can pass to a knowledge 
of what sensations are in themselves. But all know- 
ledge, except that of immediate consciousness, is 
thought acting on sensation, and is largely a syn- 
thetic activity. It is a hard saying to assert that 
sensation is constituted by thought alone, though 
there may be occasions when its content is deter- 
mined in some respect or entirely by the direction 
thought has taken or is taking, in accord with cer- 
tain psychological laws. Thought comes in when we 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 17 

go beyond immediate perception, even if it be only 
to describe what is presented by analyzing its gen- 
eral quality. At no point in the account of finite 
knowledge does thought as such determine the na- 
ture of the reality which is thought. Each judg- 
ment may claim truth of reality on the ground of 
its special relation, but Reality cannot be changed 
by merely knowing it. The judgment stands or 
falls by comparison with a given standard, or if 
that is not possible, with other judgments of similar 
claims, "Concilience of judgments is the test of 
truth;" though harmonious judgments as sudh may 
not be reality, each judgment claims to assert 
reality and its claim has, so far as it goes, a 
strength of its own. This condition is due to the 
limits of knowledge. Knowledge in time and space 
is limited; and, even though reality be known, no 
one can claim to know all Reality by any empirical 
process of intellection. There are limitations of 
sentient power, such as are evident in the recogni- 
tion of tone in the musical scale, and also color 
within the violet and red. Someone has well said, 
"A differently organized nervous system might 
give immediate and simple sense reactions to the 
manifold forms of vibration that are known only by 
those effects which we call electrical phenomena." 
Facts of physical and psychical order point to the 
possibility of an extended range of sentience. 

From the psychological details implied in affirm- 
ing all thinking is relating activity it is known that 
relating is not merely comparison, assimilation or 
differentiation — thinking involves discrimination. 
Primarily, the so-called faculty of thought may 



18 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

best be spoken of as "discriminating consciousness." 
In the higher forms of manifestation also thinking 
is analyzing activity, without which true judgment 
could not be formed, in so far as it enters into a 
finished act of apperceptive consciousness. But it is 
judgment especially synthetic, in which all think- 
ing processes culminate as an essential factor in 
every primary act of cognition. It is only, then, 
when actual concrete judgments thus formed are 
understood, that epistemology is possible, or that a 
theory of knowledge can be constructed consistent 
with the facts of experience. "Until a sympathetic 
insight into the truth of reality has operated in a 
synthetic way," the understanding or theoretical 
reconstruction of the actually existing harmony and 
unifying life, that belongs to all the forms of truth, 
is not accomplished. 

When the process of intellection is carried into 
the highest practical sphere — namely, the religious 
consciousness — where intuitive or direct apprehen- 
sion is characteristic, and man believes himself to 
be spiritual, critical analysis may justify this be- 
lief, and analyze as much as it please; for analysis 
that justifies a universal conviction has an immense 
collective or synthetic force in its favor. The unity 
of our self consciousness, arid the sense of freedom 
involved, furnishes its own evidence on which we 
proceed. And whatever may be the difference be- 
tween human and Divine personality, it is essen- 
tially that of direct, though internal perception. It 
may be retrospective, introspective or prophetic; 
but, like other facts of consciousness, it may or may 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 19 

not arrest the attention. The highest creative, a 
priori intellection is perhaps ethical, and the outer 
form insignificant compared with the inner strength 
and power of symmetry and aesthetic sentiment 
that satisfies the intellectual quest for unity. 

Memory reaction is only partial agreement and 
not complete agreement. The power of direct in- 
sight is ever present in a complete synthetic unity 
of the Individual consciousness and of the World 
consciousness. This keen insight of the reflective 
mind in combination with memory reaction inspires 
an attitude of readiness and expectation. From 
expectation to prediction is only a short step. But 
prediction 'has its limitations. It can define only 
the anatomical structure, as it were, of the truth; 
and without a well ordered logical imagination 
cannot perceive or define anything of the true na- 
ture of Reality. The formation of concepts involves 
an empirical factor and a purposive factor. And 
the purpose of a concept is its use for prediction; 
while the fitness of a concept is seen in relation to 
its purpose. The systematic control of certain sides 
and phases of experience has been regarded as pos- 
sible by the abstraction of certain concepts taken 
from experience and set in certain relations to each 
other. This is practically the scientific method, and 
these relations according to their generality and re- 
liability are called laws in the world edifice science 
has erected. A law is said to be the more important 
the more it expresses ; and the expression of a law is 
qualified definitely concerning the greatest possible 
number of things. With this qualification it may 



20 



LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 



aid more accurately in predicting the future. Every 
law is "subject" to the modifications of experience if 
it rests on an incomplete induction. Hence there is 
a kind of double process in the development of 
science, and a purely empirical science cannot hope 
to come up to an immediate perception of truth. It 
can only interpret. Nevertheless its sphere, if hon- 
est and sincere, is a most happy one when its laws 
are the laws of Truth, and its activities are in the 
Realm of Truth. 

The universal, the particular and the individual 
are implications in the Realm of Truth, and it re- 
quires nothing less than the possession of Absolute 
Knowledge and Judgment to participate in the ac- 
tivities of Creative Mind, and appreciate anything 
in the life and Being of Truth. Mathematics for 
Hume became the science of the relation of ideas, as 
opposed to the science of facts. Philosophical 
knowledge for Kant was the Knowledge of the rea- 
son arising from concepts; and the mathematical, 
that arising from the construction of concepts. The 
one studies the particular in the universal, the other 
the universal in the particular; and in high pur- 
posiveness of transcendental aesthetics and moral- 
ity, it is rather the Universal in the Individual. 

Were 'Truth a veritable Elixir, it would be the 
elixir of eternal youth, that makes the eye see well 
and does not let the imagination wither ; because it 
keeps the mind clear. And the contents or truths 
of consciousness given immediately in outer and in- 
ner perception are elements for the more elaborate 



IN? THE PEKCEPTION OF TRUTH 21 

work of mental constructions in the science of facts, 
the world of a lost paradise. 

Would the Paradise of Truth be regained if the 
Eternal Logos were perfectly expressed in a finite 
world where logic realizes its Absolute origin and 
kinship with the Eternal, and poses as a regulating 
principle in a world of facts, in conjunction with 
imagination, its counterpart in a cosmic life and 
activity of Ethical and Aesthetical harmony? Then 
judgments of taste that are aesthetically admirable 
might have some transubjective influence, but they 
would not be perceived as intuitions except to the 
mind that is not very spiritually responsive with 
conscious alertness in the discernment of spirits. 
The mind skillful with subtle acuteness of percep- 
tion, and cultured to a high degree of awareness, 
will perhaps recognize them as very rapid logical 
processes!. Inductive inferences are probably more 
in vogue with scientific methods, but these advance 
to conclusions by certain presuppositions; and in 
the eye of science they must have some kind of 
validity. At best the conclusions of inductive infer- 
ences are problematical and hypothetical. When 
they come face with the world of facts, the question 
yet remains, has everything existed or does nothing 
actually repeat itself? The condition of validity 
for inductive inferences is most securely maintained 
in the teleological principle. Earlier perceptions 
are revived in some way with the present perception 
of every complete experience; and with every com- 
plete experience begins anew the selection and 
ordering of the facts of consciousness for a more 



22 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

and yet more complete experience. The law of life 
and succession of events is perhaps a synthesis of 
memory images, interpretations and syntheses of 
spritualized conceptions recognized and revived as 
they are called into the new light of each succeeding 
experience, and something new is added or created 
— I venture the assertion, both added and created 
or created and added. At all events, there is a final 
purpose and design bringing out the final issues, 
and this is mind and Spirit. 

If it is assumed with Newton that to every action 
there is an equally opposing reaction, then every 
connection between cause and effect is mutual. 
Newton is probably the best example of the relation 
of logic and imagination in the laws of the physical 
world. His work on a large scale is a reminder of 
Kant's doctrine of pure practical reason in the 
sphere of the imagination, when he sets forth the 
conception of a world infinitely large reduced to a 
world that is infinitely small; and an infinitesimal 
world may be infinitely extended without sacrific- 
ing any of their qualities. I say a reminder of 
Kant'si doctrine, because Newton had worked out 
a mathematical formula in physical science that is 
the expression of only a limited phase of the truth, 
while Kant's statement of it seems to have a univer- 
sal and eternal significance. Newton took the atti- 
tude of the observer and the demonstrator, and was 
impressed with the majestic comprehensiveness of 
the principle, and perhaps never dreamed of its 
being regulated, or applied and relegated to the 
most infinitesimal sphere of the scientific world — 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 23 

the sphere of atoms and ions. In the higher realm 
there is no antagonistic action and reaction between 
the two processes. They help and supplement each 
other as one constructively Idealistic procession in 
the realm of ideas and corresponding physical facts. 
The law is antagonistic only in the view of finite 
intelligence and the limitations of science, which 
regards them as the principles of equilibrium and 
co-operative activity. The mental and spiritualized 
view regards them in their highest significance as 
harmoniously related in pure activity, independent 
of the physical conceptions of resistance, strain and 
tension. It has been concluded regarding the va- 
lidity of the causal law that cause and effect can 
be so related that they must be regarded as simul- 
taneous. This is thought, however, to be brought 
about by transformations in the causal relations, 
and these ways are admitted to be numerous. As 
a safeguard at this point, the opinion needs to be 
carefully weighed in the balance of Truth, under 
the penetrating, searching eye of a judicious mind. 
While there is much truth in it, there is also a pos- 
sibility of certain relations that might contain ele- 
ments of untruth. And if degraded from its proper 
relations, truth at its best might be misleading. 
The supreme consideration and conclusion of a 
writer on this problem declares: "Our causal 
thought compels us to trace back the persistent 
coexistences of the so-called elements to combina- 
tions whose analysis, as yet hardly begun, leads us 
on likewise to indefinitely manifold problems. Epis- 
temologically, we come finally to a universal phe- 



24 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

nomenological dynamism as the fundamental basis 
of all theoretical interpretations of the world, at 
least fundamental for our scientific thought, and we 
are here concerned with no other. " There is at 
least one exception to this assertion that attempts 
to define the sphere of causality. In dealing with 
the problem of cause scientific thought cannot be 
adequate, from the empirical point of view ; for that 
which is always and purely the effect can never be 
the cause. Causality is somehow in the relation 
that is established, and the mental attitude to Truth 
and the manifestations of Truth. Every advance in 
science has involved postulates and hypotheses. 
And these are as much factors in science, while ad- 
vancing to the discovery of a new phase of truth, 
as any of the facts that have been discovered. 

Take for instance that sphere of science which 
has to deal with the immediate facts of the indi- 
vidual consciousness of causal relations with a 
world of things. The individual is aware of certain 
movements and has a corresponding sensation when 
he associates these with his own initiative action 
or reaction. And those sensations which cor- 
respond to movements in the same direction 
are connected in the mind by a mere asso- 
ciation of ideas. The space conception is mental 
by its very nature, and is not dependent on 
muscular sensations. If the space conception were 
dependent on muscular sensations — which is called 
motor space by those who are troubled with much 
thinking along this line — there would seem to be 
as many dimensions as there are muscles. For 



IN THE PEKCEPTION OF TEUTH 25 

"each muscle gives rise to a special sensation 
capable of augmenting or diminishing so that the 
totality of our muscular sensations will depend 
upon as many variables as we have muscles." It 
may be observed also that, "If the muscular sen- 
sations contribute to form the notion of space, it is 
because we have the sense of direction of each 
movement and that it makes an integrating part 
of the sensation." Moreover, if a "muscular sen- 
sation" cannot arise except accompanied by this 
geometric sense of direction, "geometric space 
would indeed be a form imposed" upon the sensi- 
bility. The sense of direction is probably reducible 
to association, and this feeling cannot be found a 
single sensation. This association is externally 
considered extremely complex, and it is evidently 
acquired, the result of a habit; and the habit itself 
results from very numerous experiences. To what- 
ever extent the conception of a motor space may be 
developed, perceptual space — whether visual, tac- 
tual, or motor — is essentially different from geo- 
metric space. "Perceptual space is only an image of 
geometrical space." What this implies we shall per- 
ceive, probably, by proceeding in another consider- 
ation, by and by, to exemplify in some degree. 
Poincare has apparently made a careful analysis 
of the notion of an objective space, and his state- 
ments are rather uniquely characteristic. He says, 
"We do not represent to ourselves external bodies 
in geometric space, but we reason on these bodies 
as if they were situated in geometric space." 
The attempt to interpret spatial experience in 



26 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

terms of the complex of movements with respect to 
an object, is an example how "None of our sensa- 
tions, isolated, could have conducted us to the idea 
of space ; we are led to it only in studying the laws 
according to which these sensations succeed each 
other." If geometric space were a kind of anato- 
mical framework imposed on each of our represen- 
tations, considered individually, it would be im- 
possible to represent to ourselves an image stripped 
of this form of figure and we could change nothing 
of our geometry. But geometry is not such a fixed, 
unchangeable science. There are certain princi- 
ples, of course, that are invariably and self-evi- 
dently the expression of universal truth, but 
geometry is only the resume of the laws according 
to which images succeed each other. With the aid 
of the imagination our representations are not 
limited to any strict geometric space form, since 
there is nothing to prevent us from imagining a 
series of representations similar in all points ac- 
cording to laws different from those to which we 
are accustomed. This is immediately and unmis- 
takably the evidence from physical science of the 
freedom and transcendency of the mind in its 
superiority over the physical environment in which 
man finds himself. 

According to this view it is conceivable how that 
beings educated in an environment, where certain 
laws of geometry were upset — might have a differ- 
ent geometry. These beings, probably imaginary, 
would be led to classify in their own way the phe- 
nomena they witness, and to distinguish among 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 27 

them the "changes of position" that are susceptible 
of correction by a correlative voluntary movement. 
It would be a study of the changes of position and 
would therefore be non-Euclidean geometry. Ge- 
ometry, according to fixed mathematical laws, may 
be absolute, but it is particular and not universal. 
It suggests the nature of infinite space between in- 
dividuals that approach the Infinite in the totality 
of experience in the personal Unity of Life. The 
Infinite, however, can only be found in the realm 
of ideas 1 , and ideas in themselves are not simple 
but infinitely complex, controlled by the laws of 
Reason and operative under the principles of num- 
ber; and certain rapidity of succession or slowness 
of succession determines the nature of the percep- 
tion of the objective world. As Ideas approach the 
Infinite expression they become more and more in- 
dependent of finite limitations and of each other as 
manifested in the individual life of Beings. 

The conception of a four dimensional space, or 
of a many dimensional space, may be explained in 
a way to correspond with something like this: 
Three dimensions are associated with the normal 
activity of individual minds in perception, par- 
ticularly visual, as in binocular vision and accommo- 
dation. This is a familiar experience of every nor- 
mal individual. Now, if there is a way to recognize 
the relation of different individuals in a spiritual 
unity of perception independent of ordinary sense 
perception, then there is probably no limit to the 
number of dimensions the space of such personal 
Beings might allow. If it is not too wild a con- 



28 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

jecture, it might be an order of society or indi- 
vidual life to be experienced now in the Kingdom 
of Heaven. 

The ancients regarded law as an internal har- 
mony, a static or immutable something ; or else like 
a model that nature constrained herself to imitate. 
The modern conception of law is different. Scien- 
tific men at least regard it as the constant relation 
between the phenomena of today and that of to- 
morrow. "It is a differential equation." Newton 
first covered an ideal form of physical law, and this 
form has been much acclimated in physics, pre- 
cisely by copying as much as possible the law of 
Newton, and by imitating celestial mechanics. 
Then a critical day arrived, and the conception of 
central forces no longer satisfied the ingenuity of 
the scientific mind. Then there was attempt to 
penetrate into the detail of the structure of the 
Universe no more. The isolated pieces of this vast 
mechanism had been analyzed, and one by one the 
forces that put them in motion were abandoned. 
Perhaps the initial "wheel-work" infinitely ex- 
tended, and the final "wheel-work" infinitesimally 
microscopic, are alone visible. The transmission 
of movements are hidden, and probably none but 
the perfect observation of the originator and the 
constructive Creator can see it or change or influ- 
ence a part or movement of the mechanism. In the 
interior is a world of perfect harmony beyond the 
control of the finite observer, though with the aid 
of a rightly ordered imagination he may perceive 
the symmetry and beauty of the Divine Architect 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 29 

at work in His world. It is there where science and 
religion will meet to sing the praises of their ben- 
eficent Deity. 

The man of war had no part in the work of beau- 
tiful design. When the work of preparation was 
finished he had reached the limit of his life of 
authority and service. The Kingdom and home of 
religion was to be made beautiful and aesthetically 
admirable by the man of peace. And the work of 
science may stand in no mean comparison to the 
childhood of religion. By both the relation of 
technique and imagination is exemplified in a high 
degree. In theories of modern physics, the rela- 
tions between objects at first thought to be simple 
still subsist when their complexities are known. 
The temple and untold wealth appealed to the won- 
der and love in the delights of the religious imagin- 
ation. The temple of science, rich in concepts of 
Truth, appeals to the intellectual element of the 
modern world with a type of fascination that might 
rival even the ancients for zeal and religious fidel- 
ity, though the votaries may not be wearing their 
symbols of religious authority on their sleeves. 
The religion of science may be officially stamped as 
practical by nature in its own day, as the religion 
of the emotions w as in its day ; but the one cannot 
dispense with the proper use of the imagination any 
more than the other. Relations and relative values, 
where the imagination is most at home in its work 
of comprehending nature's laws, imply equations. 
And it is true that equations become more and 
more complicated in the attempt to embrace more 



30 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

closely the complexity of nature. If one had at 
first suspected the complexity of the objects the rela- 
tions connect, they would probably have remained 
unperceived. For a long time it has been said, if 
Tycho would have had instruments ten times more 
precise, neither Kepler, nor Newton, nor astronomy 
ever would have been. It is a misfortune for 
science to be born too late, when the means of 
observation have become too perfect, and no scien- 
tific genius is any longer able to see through the 
maze of accumulated facts to the synthetic order 
and unity and harmony of the final issue in the 
Kealm of Truth where all ideas that are clearly 
perceived are said to be alike simple. It is said to 
be the case with physical chemistry at the present 
day, that it has been born too late; its founders 
are embarrassed in their general grasp and final 
comprehensiveness of meanings, by third and fourth 
decimals; but, happily, they are men of a robust 
faith. 

The calculus of probabilities may be distrusted, 
yet it is not possible to do without this obscure 
instinct. Without it science would be impossible. 
A law could neither be discovered nor applied, 
without this instinct of the inventive genius. Has 
any one a right, for instance, to enunciate Newton's 
law, simply because he showed it mathematically 
correct? There are numerous observations in ac- 
cord with it, but who can be absolutely certain that 
this accordance might not be a simple effect of 
chance? Moreover, how can the honest scientist 
know whether this law, which has been true for 



IN THE PEBCEPTION OF TEUTH 31 

centuries, will still be true next year? The ques- 
tion of doubt as to the universal validity of a law 
can only be met on scientific grounds and dispelled 
by the reply that it is very improbable. And this 
leads on to the consideration of the probability of 
causes. Were every effect completely known in re- 
lation to its causes there would be no probability 
in the sphere of causality, but only absolute cer- 
tainty ; which would be equivalent to the knowledge 
or the discovery of fixed and established, invariable 
and unchangeable laws. 

If an experimental law is known, it may be repre- 
sented by a curve. But first a certain number of ob- 
servations are made. These are isolated and each 
represents a different point. Then they are connec- 
ted or related. In the instance of plotting a curve 
they are joined with a series of an infinite number of 
points. These may or may not pass through and co- 
incide with the isolated points or observations. In 
making the isolated observations there is a certain 
chance or liability to error on account of the im- 
perfection of the means by which the observations 
are made; this error may be due not only to the 
imperfection of mechanism but also to the variation 
of circumstances. The related observations or the 
connected points in the curve with the errors of 
observation eliminated by judgment with respect to 
uniformity, represents the probable law. 

Poineare regards this as a problem in the prob- 
ability of causes. The effects are the measurements 
recorded, and "They depend on a combination of 
two causes: the law of the phenomena and the 



32 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

errors of observation. Knowing the effects, we 
have to seek the probability that the phenomenon 
obeys this law or that, and that the observations 
have been affected by this law or that, and that the 
observations have been affected by this or that error. 
The most probable law then corresponds to the 
curve traced, and the most probable error of an ob- 
servation is represented by the distance of the cor- 
responding point from this curve." 

But, moreover, he says, "The problem would have 
no meaning if, before any observation, I had not 
fashioned an a priori idea of the probability of this 
or that law, and of the chances of error to which I 
am exposed." 

These are delicate problems or questions, but 
there are certain points that seem well established. 
For the calculation of probability, and even for that 
calculation to have any meaning, an hypothesis or 
convention, which has always something arbitrary 
about it, must be admitted as a point of departure. 
In the choice of this convention the principle of suf- 
ficient reason is the only guide. This principle may 
be very vague and elastic and capable of taking 
many different forms, yet the form in which it is 
met often is the belief in continuity; a belief, it is 
claimed, which it would be very difficult to justify 
by apodictic reasoning, yet without which all 
science would be impossible. Finally it is asserted 
that "the problems to which the calculus of proba- 
bilities may be applied with profit are those in which 
the result is independent of the hypothesis made at 



IN' THE PEKCEPTION OF TEUTH 33 

the outset, provided only that this hypothesis satis- 
fies the condition of continuity." 

We are able by the aid of certain principles "to 
draw conclusions which remain true whatever may 
be the details of the invisible mechanism which 
animates them." And there are rational or logical 
visual phenomena that are not exactly like the 
visualizing experience of the mechanism of the so- 
called visible universe. The invisible mechanism is 
not only mechanism, but also Spirit. 

In the physical and mathematical point of view 
there are certain principles that claim the attention 
a little more than others. Among these the prin- 
ciple of the conservation of energy is probably the 
most important, but there are others that give the 
same advantage to men of science as this principle 
of Mayer. Carnot's principle of the degradation of 
energy, Newton's principle of the equality of action 
and reaction, and the principle of relativity have 
to no little extent constituted the foundation of 
science. When these are shaken as by the flashing 
discovery of some new principle, science becomes 
restless and is tossed hither and thither until set- 
tled and established in some new series of prin- 
ciples validated by sufficient reason on the grounds 
of continuity in the cosmic order of truth and 
reality. 

According to the principle of relativity the laws 
of physical phenomena shall be the same for an 
observer with a fixed attention, or for an observer 
carried along in a uniform movement of translation ; 
and one has not and could not have any means of 



34 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 






discerning whether or not he is carried along in 
such motion. It implies a connecting link as a 
perfectly balanced and harmonious momentum re- 
quires when there is absolutely no more strain, ten- 
sion, or resistance than is normal and necessary in 
maintaining the identity of the individual or ele- 
mental existence. Hence Lavoisier found a prin- 
ciple, which he called the principle of the conserva- 
tion of mass. And to this Poincare would add the 
principle of least action. 

The most remarkable example of the new physical 
science in its relation with mathematics, is probably 
Maxwell's principle of the electro-magnetic theory 
of light. Nothing is known concerning what the 
ether is, or how its molecules formed of the atom 
are disposed — whether they attract or repel each 
other; but they do know that this medium trans- 
mi bs at the same time the optical and the electrical 
perturbations. They think it is true that this trans- 
mission should be conformable to the general prin- 
ciples of mechanics ; and the mathematical thinker 
proceeds on this assumption to the establishment of 
the equations in the electro-magnetic field. 

If there is no longer any mass, it is a question 
what will become of the law of Newton? Kepler's 
orbital revolutions are more secure, since they are 
more in harmony with the electro-magnetic theory 
and the idealistic tendency. The principle of the 
conservation of energy remains, but is apparently 
shaken by the discovery and observations on Radium. 
Conservative science then turns to the defense of 
the old principles, like Sir W. Ramsey, who has 



INf THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 35 

tried to show that Radium is in process a trans- 
formation, and contains a store of energy enormous 
but not inexhaustible. The transformation of 
radium would produce a million times more heat 
than all known transformations; yet may it not 
wear itself out in a thousand years or more? That 
point is probably to be settled in a few hundred 
years for the scientist, but till then he remains in 
doubt. 

Poincare suggests, "Take the theory of Lorentz, 
turn it in all senses, modify it little by little, and 
perhaps everything will arrange itself." It is not 
necessary to suppose that "bodies in motion undergo 
a contraction in the sense of motion, and that this 
contraction is the same whatever be the nature of 
these bodies and the forces to which they are other- 
wise submitted." A more simple and natural 
hypothesis might be made. 

One might imagine, for instance, that it is the 
ether modified in relative motion with reference to 
the material medium it penetrates; and that when 
it is thus modified it no longer transmits pertur- 
bations in every direction with the same velocity. 
Those which are propagated parallel to the medium 
might be transmitted more rapidly, either way ; and 
those propagated perpendicularly, less rapid. Then 
the wave surface, or whatever, would not be spheres 
but ellipsoids, and the extraordinary contraction 
of bodies could be dispensed with all good faith in 
the justification of the procedure so long as there 
are unlimited variations. This is only an example 



36 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of the modifications one might essay, and they are 
susceptible of infinite variations. 

Astronomy may give data on this point, but a 
valid synthesis depends on the work of the con- 
structive intellect and creative mind; the auxiliary 
reciprocity of imagination and reason. In simple 
reasoning one may admit a too simple theory; in 
the exclusive use of the imagination, he may lose 
himself and miss the truth. 

Nevertheless much assistance is offered by the 
work of the free imagination in getting a compre- 
hensive and worthy conception of universal truth 
and reality. And the final result is often more cor- 
rect ideally than the slow plodding method of criti- 
cal analysis ever attains. 



PART II. 

WONDER AND THE AWE-INSPIRING 
ELEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION. 

What if one should take the liberty granted by 
the authority of religious freedom, and allowed by 
the condition of science in view of modern dis- 
coveries ; and then start on the wings of the imagin- 
ation into the heights of the idealistic empyrean in 
the interests of an electrical theory of the universe; 
and declare all the Newton-La Place theories of 
gravitation, especially, and the nebular hypothesis 
are held in question by modern scientific hypotheses 
because they cannot account for runaway stars, 
motion of satellites, repulsion of comets from the 
sun and many such like phenomena. After all, per- 
haps the ancient scientific hypotheses were largely 
works of imagination. And then the vast whirling 
sun nebula of La Place's imagination is either called 
in question or rejected as not worthy of acceptance 
on account of more recent facts and discoveries. 
What if there were zones of electric energy to hold 
and keep each sphere of electromagnetic energy in 
its orbit, as there are currents of electricity in the 
atmosphere and on the surface of charged bodies? 
Perhaps a center or nucleus may act in a different 
way with respect to other centers — repelling some 
and attracting others. Since astronomy has been 
reduced in some degree to an exact science, men 



38 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

have wondered at the miraculous things they have 
seen among the stars. For instance, why does a 
comet's tail invariably swing away from the sun 
and defy the laws of gravitation? What meaning 
have the great scarlet streamers or clouds that 
swim across the sun, and the gossamer corona that 
floats far beyond and is seen only during the few 
fleeting moments of a total eclipse? What is that 
shimmering fabric which is mysteriously spread on 
the western horizon during the clear evenings of 
winter and spring? What message has the Aurora 
and its leaping pillars, of which every Arctic ex- 
plorer brings back some new and marvelous tale? 
These astronomical riddles may appear widely dif- 
ferent in character, but the magic key by which they 
are all unlocked is the pressure of light. The pres- 
sure of light acts on the surface, that of gravitation 
on the interior and solid contents of a particle. 
And when the radioactivity of particles is so intense 
as to overcome the gravitating force, they are driven 
apart ; but they are held in equilibrium and balance 
at a proper distance. Thus the poet of modern 
science attunes the moonbeam that falls on waving 
forests and heaving seas, lighting up the earth with 
an aesthetic glow ; with sufficient reason the terres- 
trial light is thus attuned with the plumage of 
comets and the splendors of a solar eclipse. The 
artificial eye of mathematics and the hyperthetical 
touch of physics reveal to the dull senses the unity 
of the forces that sway the stars. The calm of eve- 
ning, with a changing glow shading into pictures of 
silvery light and shadows, may surpass the skill of 



IN! THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 39 

the artistic observer yet suggest a midsumnier 
night's dream. And the melody of the winged voices 
of the air in the cool of the day, where forests and 
fields display their beauty in flowers and ferns; 
and distant mountains raise their purple walls to 
meet the fluffy tapestry of clouds and the dome of 
blue sky, as perceived by the natural unreflective 
eye! They are inspiring, even to the unreflective 
mind of the plain man's consciousness, who trusts 
the evidence of sense, and takes the world as he per- 
ceives it. But the highest inspiration is only pos- 
sible when the reflective mind perceives the sug- 
gestive meaning of what nature wears with the garb 
of external appearances, and the inner harmony of 
symmetry and beauty through the cosmic order of 
reality perceived as truth; when the Ideal-real is 
the object of knowledge and the object of knowledge 
is the Ideal. 

In the realm of nature thus perceived are rare 
inspirations for the imagination in reflection and 
fancy. Artists, philosophers and poets have often 
found inspiration for some of their most universal 
and beautiful expressions in literature and art, and 
perhaps even in religion. Is it astonishing that 
from the devout religious mind comes the query: 
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" Some 
of the profoundest lessons have come to man from 
the analogy of the birds of the air and the flowers 
of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin ; yet 
their Heavenly Father careth for them. They live 
in two zones, in the air and on the earth. For man 
two worlds are his, but he has tried to live and 



40 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

move in the air by inventing an airship. Yet how 
much better is man than the things of nature ! His 
worlds are of a far different character, if he only 
knew. These artificial methods are carried on to a 
vast degree in human society and activities', with 
more or less of success, and failure. Instead of adap- 
tation of the organic life it is stubborn resistance; 
equality, inequality ; balance and overbalance ; par- 
allelism, X-radiation; straightness, bias; truth and 
error. 

It is high time to agree in a harmonious and sym- 
metrical activity of adaptation of mechanism to the 
orderly laws of thought and truth in the higher 
Eeason of Ideal Life, free and no longer distressed 
with the trammeling of mental life in sensuous in- 
tuitions. In accordance with subtle ethereal laws, 
a number of electrical currents, for instance, can 
pass over the same wire at the same time and none 
interfere with the other. The spiral shape of 
nebulse correspond with the electro-magnetic laws 
and the principles of centralized activity. If there 
are electrical bodies, any number of them might 
occupy the same place at the same time. This seems 
to do away with rigid space relations. The universe 
of substance is not a monopoly of space. The Truth 
alone can determine what shall take a space form. 
And Truth is a unity of infinite individuation. This 
is the ontological value of space, and no other kind 
of space really exists. That which seems to exist 
independent of truth in the phenomenal world is 
probably based on illusion. Even experimental 
science has reached a degree of thoroughness as to 



IK THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 41 

show that with sufficient electric power and X-radi- 
ation all opaque substances might become trans- 
parent. The phenomena of clairvoyance in this con- 
nection is suggestive. The clairvoyant is the one 
who is released from the limitations of sense per- 
ception of sensuous intuitions, because his mind is 
cleared up and not dulled by misuse of phenomena 
and the influence of materialism. He dwells in a 
high degree of mental activity and life; and his 
experience is based on a logical activity in the realm 
of truth that is not mixed up with the trappings 
of existence animistic humanism calls real. The 
phenomena of light in the physical world perhaps 
furnishes an analogy and parallel. With either, 
distance or nearness probably has nothing to do 
with the relation that is fixed between related cen- 
ters of attraction that takes place in the phenom- 
enal activity. 

The layman in science "with a mind dazzled by 
light rays that are invisible, and by invisible rays 
that are not light, and bewildered by being told of 
a substance that gives off terrific energy without 
loss of bulk or power," — wiien new facts and dis- 
coveries flash upon him with such great changes and 
quick succession, he lays aside the natural philoso- 
phy of his college days and reaches blindly he knows 
not whither, unless philosophy shows the way. By 
leading the blind to the light of Truth, philosophy 
itself becomes Self-conscious in the life of the Spirit 
of science and religion, united in the practical life 
of True Being, of Absolute Spirit. 

Someone, enthusiastic over the popularity of 



42 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

science, declares : "Somewhere there must exist the 
man whose skill with the pen and 1 whose apprecia- 
tion of knowledge are equal to the task of acting 
as interpreter between scientist and the world." 
When Newton first thought that gravity might 
swing the moon as well as attract an apple to the 
ground, he probably knew nothing of electricity. 
And moreover he might have observed that a comet 
never enters the sun, and that there must be some- 
thing about it that is not attracted. In the light 
of present day experimentation there are scientific 
facts that are not subject to the law of gravitation, 
— wireless telegraphy, observations in ozology and 
the like. And there are forces in certain elements 
that ignore gravitation. In the Kansas City Star 
of December 2, 1902, it is stated : "We have reason 
for supposing that gravitation is a purely local 
affair, and heat and light do not eminate from the 
sun. Heat comes from the earth, and the light from 
the atmosphere, precisely as the film in an incan- 
descent lamp is heated by the resistance it offers to 
the electric current, and light is produced by the 
vibration of the motes in the air." The sun and 
the planets are like dynamos in their revolutions 
and each transmits what it receives to its neighbor 
on the circuit. Hence luminous bodies are radio- 
active, and do not shine by reflected light entirely 
if at all. Light is the positive result of like qualities 
attracting each other. 

Spencer's notion that "Force is the ultimate of 
ultimates," and unknowable yet in the bargain, is 
very unsatisfactory. A learned philosopher should 



IN) THE PERCEPTION OP TEUTH 43 

never fail to that extent and fall into the ditch of 
the unknowable. "Force is a servant, not a master ; 
a tool, and not an ultimate cause." Force without 
intelligence is anarchy and ruin, chaos and not a 
cosmos. A scientific apostle or interpreter of sci- 
ence says, "God is a scientific necessity." And even 
as Idealists we need a cosmological conception of 
the Universe. Man is said to be "like a wireless tele- 
graphic receiver; he draws only that which corre- 
sponds to his nature and character." Then what is 
his nature and character should be the principle 
interest of man. Man's free nature and perfect life 
consists in knowing his fundamental purpose ; and 
in living, thinking, acting, feeling, in conformity 
with that. To know his purpose and be conscious 
of his Idea in Creative Will, man must know the 
universal system of reality in Absolute Idealism. 

Most great specialists in science have made great 
sacrifices. But in and through the temples erected 
by these great architects of thought, the ethico- 
spiritual life has dwelled and found expression. 
With specialization the line of individuation be- 
comes more marked. And if the mind has become 
a mere logical machine for turning general laws out 
of large collections of facts, or a mere butterfly 
imagination that disports itself in the sunshine and 
among the flowers merely to entertain and please 
the eye for a time, and then be relegated to musty 
bookshelves or the oblivion of fictitious fireworks — 
or else lapse into a form to light the beauty of the 
natural world — humanity suffers. Neither can ap- 
prehend the truth of the other, because they are 



44 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

not sympathetically disposed. Milton had no love 
for mathematics, or Newton for poetry; Spencer 
thought most of the evolution of the material uni- 
verse, Schopenhauer of the absurdity of life; Pascal 
was shocked with the recognition of inexorable 
tragedies of the universe and of human intelligence; 
Plato harped on the theory of ideas and of the ver- 
satile character of the real w r orld ; Darwin selected 
a place of extreme specialization in the ethical 
world and afterwards lamented at leisure that he 
had neglected the fine arts, and did not keep his 
sympathetic nature alive by toning up his imagina- 
tion with music and poetry to a little color of fine 
thought and feeling. 

The infinite and eternal power of universal activ- 
ity is of a psychic nature, and its causality consists 
in a combination with intellect and will in the 
Realm of Truth. "Religion cannot exist without 
spirituality and the religious concept." With the 
religious use of the imagination is the view of the 
Heavenly City, the new birth and that spiritual in- 
fluence which leads to righteousness and Truth, 
"Without religion the soul could not dream of 
heaven nor feel the sweet whisperings of faith and 
hope." Neither could the personal consciousness 
thrill with spiritual joy and truth. 

The actuality of Ideals in gems of art, literature, 
sculpture, life, imposing temples and inspiring 
thoughts, — are works of the combined influence of 
religion and ideality. Ideality in beauty is the in- 
spiration of genius, goodness, nobility, and is al- 
ways present with religion. The result of the 



m THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 45 

thought of the ages comes handed down to us in 
a three-fold classification, that "the content of di- 
vinity is found in the three ideas of the reason — 
truth, goodness, and beauty." Truth of course is 
used in the sense of unity in diversity. As the self 
related feelings are compared with those which cen- 
ter in God, a great difference is found. The higher 
feelings imply a certain content in the divinity 
which is not the same way involved in the lower 
feelings. The divinity is no mere abstract form 
that one may use at will, but a being with a per- 
sonal ty and will of his own; independent of mans 
personality, and worshiped because he is in him- 
self lovable, and trusted because he is worthy of 
trust. In the Ideal religion the relation is no 
longer between an individual worshiper and an 
individual divinity, but with the individual wor- 
shiper and the absolutely worshipful, trustworthy, 
and lovable. "What, then," someone may ask, "is 
the relation between the ideas of the reason and 
the highest forms of the religious feeling?" To 
this one may reply that, "These feelings become re- 
ligious as they are combined with others, when to 
the thought of truth or goodness or beauty is joined 
the thought of the supernatural. Religion is the 
feeling toward the Absolute Being in whom are 
united truth and goodness and beauty." They are 
so closely related with the ideas of the reason that 
I am disposed to believe that the religious feelings 
imply the ideas of the reason. The genuine re- 
ligious attitude looks to a divinity that is known 
by the wisdom and authority of His revealed Life. 



46 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

The perfectly beautiful object must open into the 
infinite universe. Otherwise the object alone may 
be pretty, but it would lack the beauty that comes 
only as there is an opening into the larger relation. 
The wax figure may attempt to imitate life, yet we 
know it is not life. The phrase, "looks through na- 
ture up to nature's God," has meant to many a 
one simply the suggestion of a God as nature's de- 
signer. The more profound sense is the actual pres- 
ence of the divinity in all beauty. It is not that 
when we appreciate the beauty and wonder of na- 
ture we necessarily think of the Wisdom and Power 
of the Creator, but it is simply that we have the 
sense of the divine presence. In terms of essence 
and substance, analysis is said to be the essence of 
science, while synthesis is the substance of aesthet- 
ics. 

When Thomas Hardy's pilgrim walking over hill 
and dale at the beginning of day, and dreaming 
of his bride as he goes, sees the well-beloved in 
the form of womankind, God created, walking by 
his side and perfect; she declares: 

"The one most dear is with thee here, 
For thou dost love but me." 

And when the type of perfect in the mind, in na- 
ture he could not find, came the injunction with 
audacious terms : 

"O fatuous man, this truth infer, 
Brides are not what they seem; 
Thou lovest what thou dreamest her; 
I am thy very dream !" 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 47 

Yet in that dream of beauty, the absolutely perfect 
of the Idea, Spirit, Will, or of God, — is more real 
to him than the figures in the street. For he sees 
what has lived perhaps in eternity ; something that 
has been one of the great formative influences of 
his own life, and has done much to create the quali- 
ties of those actual figures in the street. In his 
dream norm of perfect Beauty, he comes into imme- 
diate relations with a very real Presence and Pow- 
er, and feels the larger life within himself, — though 
subjective, yet intensely objective. The Ideal that 
has dawned so entrancingly on the one, may also 
be closely related to the other. The lover may look 
through the eyes of the beloved to a far deeper life 
than she herself may be aware of, yet it is truly 
her« — a life perennial and aesthetically admirable. 
The more than mortal beholds the more than mor- 
tal in the other; and, when angel Spirits descend 
to meet, Love is born. 

Without religion ideality is anarchistic mockery 
and a mere dream of socialism based on false hopes. 
When hope is a delusion and a snare, inspiration 
withers, and the mildew of selfish materialism con- 
verts a paradise into deserts of despair. Where 
ideality and religion are excluded from life in the 
world, all that has value and is worth living for 
shrivels like a withered flower. Science, philoso- 
phy, ideality, love, hope, and human aspirations 
sustain the religious concept. And though mil- 
lions do not perceive the sublimity and truth of 
the Ideal, those receptive minds, nearest the Light, 
extend divine illuminations to those below; and 



48 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

they perceive its beauty and truth, and step up 
higher to share the joy of a God-created life and 
consciousness eternal. 

"The ultimate aim and purpose of creation is 
ideal perfection," is a fine statement of the truth ; 
and Hegel once referred to his logic as his religion. 
Professor Walker declares : "The twentieth Cen- 
tury may show whether there is a great master 
hand that sweeps over the entire deep harp of life, 
or whether men are but pipes through whom the 
breath of Tan doth blow a momentary music.' " 
The final test of religion is belief in a God who 
cares. Creative Mind and Spirit co-conscious with 
the minds of like quality and identity of purpose, 
may be regarded as acting directly on the electrical 
constitution of the so-called material universe. 
Conceptions 1 of the universe are different for dif- 
ferent minds; each lives in and sees a deduction of 
experience in universal relations. Every concep- 
tion is enriched by the wealth of truthful concep- 
tion of every other universal conception. Knowl- 
edge and imagination give color and tone to the 
world in which one lives and sees. Man's world 
is an ideal thought world; and imagination, said 
to be a creature of education, is moreover the high- 
est gift of Deity, that converts 1 knowledge into 
reality and utility, and reasons from the known 
to the unknown — the synthesis of futurity and the 
analysis of the past. Hence we speak of the re- 
ligious use of the imagination. When the union 
of true Ideals is accomplished, the result is actual- 
ized in something like real knowledge; and there 



IIS] THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 49 

comes also a visible transformation, a change and 
glory as real and convincing to the world of sense 
as it is far-reaching and miraculous in spiritual 
significance. The Idea expressed in all external 
forms of Beauty is the sign, to the Idea that per- 
ceives, for that infinite sense of peace, recognition, 
rest, Unity — the signal of Truth. Through the 
divine insight and wisdom, the Divine is perceived. 
The Self, identified with the Universal Being, 
becomes the center of Absolute recognition, re- 
liance and repose. The mind does not cease 
from its natural and joyful activities; but only 
from that terrified and joyless quest, inevita- 
ble as long as its own existence and affiliations to 
the Being of the Eternal were in question and doubt. 
The Individual lets go thought. He is as if pre- 
determined, and can think in a certain way or not 
at all. He glides into the quiet sense of his own 
identity with the Self of the Universe, past the 
feeling into the very identity itself; where a glor- 
ious Universal Consciousness leaves no room for 
separate self -thoughts or emotions. He leans in si- 
lence on that inner Being, and excludes for a time 
every thought, movement of the mind, impulse to 
action, or whatever in the faintest degree might 
stand between the Individual and the Universal. 
Then there comes to the Individual, with a sense 
of Absolute repose, a Consciousness of immense 
and universal power, completely transforming the 
world for him. All life is changed ; the Individual 
becomes master of his fate. "He perceives that all 
things are hurrying to perform his will ; and what- 



50 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ever in that inner region of inner Life he may con- 
descend to desire, that already is shaping itself to 
utterance and expression in the outer world around 
him. 'The winds are his messengers over all the 
world, and flames of fire his servants ; * * * and 1 
the clouds float over the half-concealed, dappled, 
and shaded Earth — to fulfill his eternal joy.' " 

It is said, "For the ceaseless endeavor to realize 
this identity with the great Self, there is no substi- 
tute. No teaching, no theorizing, no philosophiz- 
ing, no rules of conduct or life will take the place 
of actual experience." What is learned by actual 
experience surpasses all other kinds of discipline. 
Some modes of the higher consciousness are : Love, 
Faith, Knowledge, Charity, endless Power, endless 
Life and Presentee in space and time. Until hu- 
manity has realized something of the laws of this 
higher Life in Society there are perplexing prob- 
lems. At the time of this greatest of all transform- 
ations for the natural life, the feeling element has 
a supremacy over strenuous thought. The higher 
feelings and the Spiritual qualities they represent, 
pass into the expression of a Supreme Life, and 
become realized in the human organization as well 
as in the structure of Society. Paul said, "Behold 
I show you a mystery " and " We shall all be 
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye." Fra Angelico in his little cell perceived the 
same mystery, when in vision he pictured out of 
his own soul the transfigured Christ, luminous, 
serene, with arms extended over the world. Who 
shall essay to speak of that body, woven like Cin- 



IN! THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 51 

derella's robe of the sun and moon? Swift, ethereal 
elements, subtle and penetrating! The rippling 
waves and the stars, the branches of the trees and 
the lilies of the fields, deliver themselves up to 
him. His Spirit is wrapped among them, and he 
hears what they and all things would say. When 
the Kingdom of Heaven has fully come, he is the 
One, "Absolute and changeless, yet infinitely indi- 
viduate, and intelligent — the Supreme life and 
being." The Supreme Cosmic Consciousness in 
the realms of thought and emotion, gives expres- 
sion to all actual existence and Creation. 

In the light of modern scientific hypotheses man 
lives in a new world, flashed upon him suddenly 
as if by the magic of creation. What is ultimately 
to become of the old hypotheses and conceptions? 
Some of the new explain so much and mean so much 
more than the old. If the test is to be sufficient 
reason and the aesthetic sense they will have to 
meet their fate along with the rest. The fact that 
they have stood the test of time for a long while in 
man's estimation, but for a moment in cosmic time 
and the order of the universe, may not justify their 
validity even though they claim conservatism. 
Should they pass as having their day, they may 
yet vanish in a kindly way in the larger life and 
order of the new. In the world of science man 
lives in a world where the sun does not smite him 
by day or the moon by night. They even do not 
shine in the old sense of the term. But with the 
reciprocal action of planets with planets, and suns 
with suns and solar systems each furnishes its own 



52 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

light and heat by affording certain conditions to 
the streams of electrical energy that flash from 
world to world in the great starry galaxies of the 
heavens. The orbs of the universe wrapped in vast 
electrical bands leave the atmosphere as the realm 
of light; and as some one has said perhaps all the 
material substance in the air could be held in the 
hollow of the hand. In this world of such subtle 
mechanism, it is possible to recognize more and 
more the activity of certain teleological principles 
at work. The sphere of final purpose has been 
applied more particularly to the ethical and aesthet- 
ical life of the individual, but by the discerning eye 
the principle is most evident through the mechan- 
ical life of the universe in shaping man's environ- 
ment. Humanity by nature entertains 1 some idea 
regarding ideal aims; what idea regarding the na- 
ture of Keality shall it find itself justified in enter- 
taining? In a logical and principled way it is not 
possible to limit the conception of final purpose 
as applied to the concrete facts of reality. The 
imperfect knowledge of man in a finite world limits 
his ability to recognize the particular final pur- 
poses the concrete facts of his experience serve. 
The obscurity hanging like an impenetrable cloud 
over the beginning and end of knowledge makes it 
impossible for him to demonstrate the final aim 
of the World's course. The present system of things 
depends on clear knowledge and judgments, but 
man cannot change them by simply knowing them. 
The intensity and magnitude of ideas, towering one 
above another, may rise until lost in the highest 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 53 

aesthetical and ethical ideals, qt they may vanish 
diminutively below the threshold where imagina- 
tion can no longer guess or presuppose the ultimate 
foundations of reality. The system and order of 
the Ideal-real world from infinity to infinity is 
too vast and complex to be comprehended from 
the side of the finite, though the finite life may 
open into the infinite and be transformed by the 
corresponding perception of infinity, and then 
participate in the Ideal-real knowledge and 
experience of Infinite Beauty and' Truth. Rich as 
man's knowledge and experience may have made 
him, can he assert his "intuition" to discern surely 
or his calculus to measure precisely the foundations 
of Reality? Yet wherever man's knowledge extends 
is found the presence of formative principles com- 
missioned by creative Ideals and ends. The idea is 
coextensive with all known reality, and is the ex- 
planatory principle in the course of events. In Pro- 
fessor Ladd^s terms, "Reality, in general, is known 
as actually being a Unity of Force guided by ideas 
of form and law into processes that conform to 
ideal ends." 

In the act of knowledge one distinguishes and 
makes some object his own. For the consciousness 
of cognitive activity is actually a knowledge of 
something. It is an activity determined with refer- 
ence to what is known, or regarded as someone's act 
or experience by way of knowledge. Then there is 
another distinction connected with that of subject 
and object, which is considered as applying to the 
objects of knowledge. On the basis of this distinc- 



54 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

tion Epistemology considers the "nature, grounds, 
certitude, and more ultimate meaning of the Knowl- 
edge of Things and the Knowledge of Self." A dis- 
tinction of subject and object is essential to knowl- 
edge, but some account is to be taken of that dis- 
tinction between objects on the "basis of which a 
division of cognitive processes into kinds is fre- 
quently set up." This is the basis of a system of 
cognitions that sets the self into relations with a 
known world of things, and things into known re- 
lations with each other so as to form a "world" out 
of them. Logic for the most part treats the dis- 
tinction of subject and object in a purely formal 
way. Though "knowing," "imagining," and "re- 
membering" have ever a unique relation and differ- 
ence in the nature and validity of these cognitive 
activities between a subject "I" and the object that 
has a special value for a theory of knowledge ; Sub- 
ject cannot be resolved into a passing phase of ob- 
ject and object without losing its validity for real- 
ity. Hence reality cannot be known by any analy- 
sis of psychoses unless the real Self is rich enough 
in truth to transcend the empirical self, when this 
has been made objective by complete self-analysis. 
Abstractions may not be substituted for real liv- 
ing experiences, but self-consciousness is not an 
abstraction. The description of it may be, and 
often is, an abstraction of related abstracts. In 
actuality self-consciousness is the experience of a 
Being with itself; the recognition of another to the 
mind; a living affection and activity that is self- 
directing as well as self-cognizing. The relation of 



IN? THE PEKCEPTION OF TEUTH 55 

the real subject to the real object is an actual, con- 
crete and indubitable experience. It is not ignor- 
ance, but rather that commerce of Being with Self 
in which the essence of all knowledge exists. In 
self-consciousness experience is its own guarantee 
of reality. Says Prof. Ladd, "The realization of 
this relation, which separates what is really one, 
in order to consciously judge it to be one, capable 
of acting and! reacting in a living unity of related 
existence, is not to be spoken of as an impotent deed, 
a mark of hopeless limitations, a never-ceasing and 
inescapable temptation to skepticism and to agnos- 
ticism. The rather is it the method of mind in 
knowledge, following the transactions that go on in 
reality. We have no higher type of the divine and 
Absolute cognitive activity than the realization by 
the conscious human spirit of the actuality of its 
own inter-related self-activities." 

The reality of the subject and object, and the 
actuality of the relation between them essential to 
cognition, are an experience without doubt in every 
act of self-consciousness. While the act of self- 
cognition implies an obvious and indisputable dis- 
tinction of subject and object, a certain unlike- 
ness, their complete incomparability is denied; and 
their actual unification in some form is affirmed. 
The distinction of self and not-self is said to have 
its "origin in the nature of the mind as related to 
other realities; and yet it can never come to pass 
except as the mind itself, by its own discriminating, 
segregating, and unifying activities, brings it to 
pass." Knowledge of the Self is immediate, and 



56 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

may be called intuitive, an engagement of Reality. 
But the conception of things, their real nature and 
actual relations, is shown to be developed from an 
assumption that has only the value of an analogy, 
which needs to be defended against skeptical at- 
tacks. What it is really to be a Self, can only be 
described in terms of self-consciousness. Other 
Selves are known by interpretation of percepts or 
concepts constructed after the pattern of one's 
known self. Conceptual knowledge of mere things 
is of two kinds, positive and negative. The negative 
consists in denying to things certain characteristics 
that selves are conceived of as having. The positive 
characteristics! things are thought to have, are all 
abstractions from the definite, concrete, and' intu- 
itive knowledge of the Self by itself. 

It is by the intense consciousness of real personal 
existence that the external perceptions are con- 
structed into a real world of things. And the 
different natures of things are known as conceptual 
modes of their self-activity in changing relations to 
other things, and these conceptions of hidden qual- 
ities and forces with which we endow things are 
abstracted from our experience as self-active in re- 
lation to the objects of our cognition. What we 
call "will" or conactive activity thus becomes the 
central and fundamental principle in the act of 
knowing Self and a world of external things; and 
in the more highly organized minds we conceive of 
ourselves as wills set over against each other, or 
united harmoniously by common interests. It may 
be said further that it belongs to the sense percep- 



IN; THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 57 

tions of man to have fused with them, as an organic 
and integrating factor, the irresistible conviction 
of a Reality apprehended and belonging to the ob- 
jects of his perceptive acts. "Perception believes 
and must believe in itself as an indubitable experi- 
ence of the trans-subjective. * * * Perceptive 
cognition is interpretative of mind life. What the 
Thing is becomes; known to us only so far as we 
are prepared to consider it as a manifestation of the 
presence and power of mind life." The faculty of 
knowing by perception grows by applying to it in- 
telligently and frequently the power of reflective 
thinking; then the sphere of assured knowledge of 
things increases, though it becomes more and more 
conceptual. Our enlarged perceptive experience of 
things seems to acquire attributes and powers en- 
dowed for the most satisfactory interpretation and 
remote explanation of the world of things. In this 
development of knowledge there is a most import- 
ant difference between the knowledge of things and 
the knowledge of Self. The qualifications of things 
are known only conceptually, from the analogy 
of the immediately known qualifications of the Self. 
While the knowledge of Self may assume an intui- 
tive penetration to the heart of Reality, the knowl- 
edge of things remains the analogical interpretation 
of their behavior, judged in terms of a real nature 
corresponding, in important characteristics, to the 
activity of a will. The human mind actually cog- 
nizes the world of things with the passionate and 
determined assumption of a right to know what 
they really are. This right admitted extends and 



58 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

validates the system of concepts relating to things. 
For this reason it is an assumption of the highest 
epistemological value. 

I think that Paulsen makes a questionable state- 
ment, when he regards the historical development 
of the sciences as independent of epistemology ; and 
that "No theory of knowledge causes the slightest 
change in the stock and value of our knowledge/' 
Paulsen dismisses the solipsistic position on the 
ground that the mind does not doubt the existence 
of a world independent of its own ideas; and states 
the question as to what the claim of the existence 
of such a world! means and how we come to believe 
that a reality exists independent of our own ideas, 
of which the 'cognitive mind forms an infinitely 
small part. The one taking that point of view 
might be asked, whether the sciences and other phe- 
nomenalism are not only means to ends, an attempt 
at an objective understanding of the reality of 
Absolute Knowledge, the factors of which are con- 
stituted by the ends and universal truths of ulti- 
mate Keality? Until the nature of reality is known 
by an intellect enlarged and enlightened, all knowl- 
edge is imperfect, and the laws and causes of activ- 
ity cannot de discerned or judged. This, however, 
does not affect the claim of the ego as known di- 
rectly without reference to phenomenal appearance. 
If the Soul is a plurality of inner experiences com- 
bined into a Unity not further definable; and the 
conception of an ultimate, all-embracing, unified 
Life and Self-existent Being relates all reality in 
every particular — then there can be no dark cell of 



INI THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 59 

reality that Absolute Knowledge does not pene- 
trate. Even some human personalities, whose char- 
acters are so near like the type life in Idealized 
Love, make thought assume a different character 
from that of the groping habits of finite wisdom 
that claims to be in the dark. This mystical pre- 
sence that is not mystical to the Divine insight and 
Wisdom, whether conceptual or perceptual, will 
take the mind sailing away into higher realms; 
without being any longer able to concentrate on 
merely objective analysis or the Epistemological 
Problem. One simply knows, and cares not how he 
knows ; there is so much to know. 



PART III. 

KNOWLEDGE AND HAPPINEiSS. 

At this point the relation of knowledge and hap- 
piness is suggestive. The more there is to know 
the happier may not apply or appeal to the easy- 
going, tyrannically idealistic, though it should 
tickle the fancy of the ethically free idealist. Kant 
conceives of happiness in a way that man does not 
get the concept from his instincts. "It is a mere 
idea of a state, which he wishes to make adequate 
to the Idea," The idea in this sense might be more 
properly (considered an Ideal. Man, the final pur- 
pose of creation, completes the claim of mutually 
subordinate purpose as regards its ground. "Only 
in man, and only in him as subject of morality, do 
we meet with unconditioned legislation in respect 
of purposes, which therefore alone renders him 
capable of being a final purpose, to which the Whole 
of nature is teleologically subordinated." As a 
moral being man can be a final purpose of creation. 
All perfection is united in a unique cosmic causal- 
ity; and Eeason succeeds better theoretically and 
practically with a principle so definite. At all 
events the great purposiveness in the world indi- 
cates its supreme cause, and makes it necessary to 
think its causality as due to that of a wise, discern- 
ing Mind; but no one is entitled to ascribe to this 
the limitations of the human understanding. The 
Divine Omnipresence is thought of as Presence in 



IN; THE PEKCEPTION OF TEUTH 61 

all places, to make comprehensible to the finite 
mind! His immediate presence in things that are 
external to one another without ascribing to God 
any such determinations as a cognizing conception 
of His essential Nature, the Life of a Perfect Ethi- 
cal Spirit. The Divine Omnipresence is perhaps 
best represented by considering each particular 
Being a thought of the Supreme Intelligence; just 
as one thought received in many minds may be pre- 
sent in many different places at the same time. 
From this point of view we shall endeavor to treat 

I the facts at issue more particularly in the plain 
man's consciousness; though they may be regarded 
as a little extraordinary, or as touching the border- 
land of the abnormal. Nevertheless they represent 
a type of human experience and observation in 
some rare activities of the imagination. And if 
they should not furnish any positive light regard- 
ing the nature of Truth, yet their negative char- 
acter may show the Keality of Truth all the more 

: clearly and unified. 

There is an experiment with time series in dif- 
ferent rapidity of succession, entering into 
discriminating consciousness and giving the per- 

! ception of a new series of an altogether differ- 
ent rate of succession from either of the orig- 
inal series actually going on as a physical fact in 
the immediate present experience of the observing 
subject: For instance, the motor disk or color 
wheel with an opening so as to see another time 
series of revolutions through the aperture. The 
disk with an opening revolves at a high speed and 



62 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

gives the impression of transparency. The motor 
arrangement revolves at a higher speed, but seen 
through the upper whirling disk gives the percep- 
tion or illusion of a speed rate of revolutions that 
is equal to the difference between the first and sec- 
ond rates. X to the nth power equals T prime 
to the nth power minus T second to the nth power. 
This phenomena is suggestive of something of a 
similar character in the purely mental world; while 
the Ego, the Real personality is looking through the 
subjective and objective categories of the mind, and 
observing a particular class of phenomena. Form 
and distance is consciously determined by 'com- 
parison in conceptual knowledge of two different 
mental concepts. This is a process one is not 
always aware of in the act of knowing and judg- 
ing, yet it is a fact and principle of perception 
that is discerned only by the most careful and sub- 
tle analysis. The perception of an absolutely sim- 
ple idea defies the law that invariably holds in the 
perception of a tri-dimensional space and distance. 
Consciousness necessarily implies the immediate 
relation and actuality of a Universal Truth that 
transcends a limited, phenomenal space and time 
world. Without entering the discussion of the 
relation of idea and object, let us take the idea or 
conception of an objective appearance as the object 
of perception, and the only approach to the reality 
with which the mind has to db in the act of know- 
ing and judging the meaning of a circumstance; 
until the one absolutely One Idea that determines 
the Reality of the object in the Unity of Truth is 



IN/ THE PERCEPTION OF TEUTH 63 

perceived. In this method of observation there is 
no real sundering of the reality of the object from 
the Idea that determines and fulfils its Being in the 
world ; and the idea that is consciously maintained 
is inevitably conditional as long as there is a pos- 
sibility of plurality of concepts in the perception 
of an object judged as objectively real. The per- 
ception is modified and susceptible to change until 
the Unity of Truth is perceived, when a very quick 
adjustment takes place between the Idea that per- 
ceives and the Idea perceived as objective Reality. 

There is some analogical significance in the be- 
havior of the eye while watching a whirling color- 
disk. The original colors may be noticed to appear 
in flashes, when there are a number of colors in 
combination on the disk, by simply changing the 
point of fixation for the eye. In the study of eye 
movements it has been shown that the eye is ex- 
ceedingly quick in making (co-ordinated adjust- 
ments, and that it requires intense fixation of 
attention to prevent those extraordinary discharges 
of nervous energy, observed in the study of after- 
images and more carefully worked out by the use 
of the kinetoscopic camera. I think there is a very 
close relation, in the control of those co-ordinations 
and extraordinary movements of the eye, with the 
time required habitually by the individual discrim- 
inating consciousness. The cognition and recogni- 
tion of quality and form have to be accounted for 
by memory associations, unless the accuracy of ex- 
pectation is sufficiently positive to control the co- 
ordinations in discriminating consciousness. There 



64 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

is such a thing as mental co-ordination in the laws 
of truth so invariable as to secure the plotting even 
of a curve on the theory of probabilities. To what 
extent this faculty may be developed in various 
types of religious experience is not the official task 
of Science to attempt to state. There is an example, 
however, of how a man may be so absorbed in mer- 
cenary motives as to greatly impair or impoverish 
his perception of the religious Ideal, and thus be- 
come an offense to the sense of aesthetic purposive- 
ness and design. Suppose a type of old! commercial 
greed and victim of avarice ; a type that draws out 
the contempt and keen regret of every thoughtful 
citizen ; and, at the same time, sympathy and pity 
toward the innocent ones that are subjects of his. 
mercenary motives. His two little girls of only 
about sixteen — it does not require a vast stretch 
of the imagination to represent science and religion 
by the analogy of the feminine spirit — are employed 
in running a mill for him. This employment of the 
scientific and religious spirit exclusively for analy- 
sis to make words that may pass for coin over the 
counters of 'fools, seems a tax on the synthetic 
spirit in quest of truth ; a tax on the Spirit of Truth 
and sense of delicacy too great for the sake of tech- 
nical gain, while the aesthetic qualities that are the 
true birthright and! Ideal inheritance of the femi- 
nine mind and spirit are neglected. 

In the Proceedings of the Society for Physical 
Research, the Rev. A. T. Fryer gives an account of 
the Psychological aspects of the Welsh Revival, in 
which he advances a theory of physical vibratory 



INI THE PEKCEPTION OF TEUTH 65 

operation to explain for the present the various ex- 
periences of sound, heat and vision in the psychical 
experiences of those who heard voices, were affected 
by temperature sensations and saw visions, lights, 
often having definite forms and certain modes of 
appearance and reappearance after latent periods. 
He states a theory with the attempt to explain 
things behind the scenes, as it were, without draw- 
ing too much on the supernatural element in re- 
ligion. "A" and "B" represent the active agent and 
the medium of transmission respectively. "A" is 
the agent "exercising influence and suggesting 
form." "B" is the "Recipient of mental stimulus 
whose brain translates the message into sound, 
heat, or light form according to its own capacity 
of motion." He says, moreover, "In this inquiry 
the physical and the psychical cannot safely be dis- 
severed, however necessary it may be to specialize 
for the sake of adequate research." Without the 
need of descending to any physical vibration 
theory, Prof. Francis G. Peabody in Jesus Christ 
and the Christian Character, page 30, brings out 
the fact in religious experience that rings true — 
the fact that faith and 1 love cannot be divorced. It 
is the great misfortune of humanity to have ever 
believed they could be divorced or separated one 
from the other. In faith and love there is mudh 
of the emotional element present ; and one who has 
been accustomed to think of an emotion as some- 
thing almost purely aesthetic, finds difficulty in 
satisfying the demands of religious; faith with any 
theory of bodily resonance or physical vibratory 



66 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

operation. Certain thoughts and feelings do send 
the blood! coursing through the system causing a 
modification of sensory consciousness. And an 
emotion may even be the sign or effect; a mental 
process within the limits of, and under the control 
of the higher mental processes of the Eeason. Yet 
it seems that an emotion cannot be less than the 
connection between mind and body denoting the 
discharge of nervous energy by the judging activ- 
ity in perception, either mental or physical. Then 
the higher the theme and quality of thought the 
finer the emotion and expression of feeling. An 
emotion is most likely the psychic thrill that fol- 
lows the judging process or activity, and is in- 
hibited or expressed by the bodily organism accord- 
ing to the degree of self-command and mastery 
through the highly and finely co-ordinated activities 
of the Ideal Self. The highest form and quality 
of emotion is indubitably what can best be de- 
scribed as Ethical Love. Dante and Beatrice are 
classic types of this kind of emotion that is al- 
most wholly ideal, which served! for the inspiration 
of a life-work. James refers to the difficulty of 
detecting with certainty purely spiritual qualities 
of feeling ; and also says, "If there be such a thing 
as a purely spiritual emotion," he would be in- 
clined to restrict it to what Sir W. Hamilton would 
call "unimpeded and not overstrained activity of 
thought." I think the unity of the individual is 
of a psychic nature, and "under ordinary condi- 
tions, it is a fine and serene but not an excited 
state of .jconsciousnesa" The body is probably 



IN! THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 67 

formed by contact with environment — with other 
minds. When life becomes a struggle it leaves a 
"fringe of consciousness"; and a so-called bodily 
resonance may be just the manifestations of an 
emotion in this fringe of consciousness, people wear 
for a time until the paradise that has been lost 
shall be regained. The emotion of ethical senti- 
ment sometimes causes one to suffer in the life of 
other persons. It was the example of the highest 
type of human and divine personality; and these 
sentiments are so highly valued! that no degree of 
pleasure-pain can tempt to the forsaking of a lost 
soul. All the organs of the body are perhaps con- 
scious to some extent, and capable of direct action 
in obedience to the determination of the highest 
center of co-ordimation in the Individual. And 
when perfect co-ordination is established it very 
probably ranges all the way from finite to infinite 
personality in Universal Truth. The apperceptive 
consciousness is most likely the purest and most 
real (source of the emotions ; the discriminating and 
judging activity in the free imagination, resulting 
in aesthetic, ethical and religious sentiment an'd 
feeling; emanating in life; giving expression in 
beauty and the fine arts; and the more sublime, 
harmonious activity of tlie soul through poetic 
thought and feeling. 

The various psychical phenomena referred to in 
the Welsh Revival, for instance, might be illu- 
minated or explained in some degree by the time re- 
quired in various kinds of complex reactions of the 
sensory type to highly complex mental and emo- 



68 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

tional stimuli. The more highly complex the reac- 
tion, the less chance there is to react to expectation, 
since there is a feeling of suspended judgment until 
the objective stimuli is given. Sensory reactions to 
mental stimuli are essentially complex; and if the 
mind is not sufficiently clear and 1 logical and skill- 
ful in the operations of divine Love and Wisdom, 
it is conceivable how these sensory reactions 
might be free to work out their own adjustment 
without the orderly regulation of a discriminating 
and wise Judge on the throne of the individual rea- 
son ; as in conversation when the subject is brought 
face to face with the Ultimate Reality and is com- 
pletely overcome and overwhelmed with the pre- 
sence of the Eternal. The same result may be effec- 
ted by a simple transformation if the process can 
be met by deliberate choice, and! then the way to 
react discretely determined upon after having been 
clearly perceived and comprehended. This differ- 
ence between simple and complex reactions is due 
to the fact that no particular co-ordination of move- 
ments can be reasonably determined until after the 
discriminating process has taken place; and the 
time required for all this and reaction is determined 
largely by the control one has over attention, and 
the versatility in applying it. 

Reacting with the left hand to orange and the 
right to green is one of the most simple examples of 
discriminating activity. The direction of a certain 
nervous energy and the form of the excitation has 
to be decided and determined ; that is, the ego sub- 
ject, when ready for the experiment may not have 



IN! THE PEBCEPTION OP TEUTH 69 

the attention on anything in particular, but when 
the color appears the individual consciousness is 
there discriminating, and 1 then after a process of 
discrimination with reference to a prearranged 
scheme, is directed to a certain object. In general, 
judgments may be expected to vary somewhat with 
the change of attention, because they are more or 
less influenced by preceding values. Both space 
and time perceptions seem to be resolvable into cer- 
tain f ornus of activity in ideation processes. And in 
the recognition of time, memory plays an important 
part. And visual space is the most beautiful exam- 
ple of space perception constructed of a complex of 
time perceptions not within the threshold of con- 
sciousness. A change in the rate of ideation pro- 
cesses brings about a corresponding change in the 
perception of time — almost unlimited 1 , like a mo- 
ment as eternity and eternity as a moment. 

Martin's thesis, presented at Yale, May 1, 1905, 
contains a chapter on some aspects of knowledge. 
He maintains that the mind is essentially active in 
knowing. I am inclined to think, however, that in 
maintaining the unity of all the faculties and that 

i knowledge is subjective, and in rejecting a logical 
subject of states, and maintaining the reality of 
things outside of knowledge and the necessary and 

! ultimate unity in all reality — he lapses into some- 

■ thing like a logical subject of states in order to de- 
fine the knowing subject. He distinctly claims that 

i the Self cannot be at any time separate or freed 
from its experience, or elements of its total expe- 
rience; that the Self is a development and all the 



70 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

factors of experience are present in the total ex- 
perience of the Self at any period of the Self's de- 
velopment. This, it seems to me, would not admit 
of any changes or tranformations of the Self; and 
according to this view the Self could not enter a 
new sphere of reality, which he frankly admits in 
his recognition of a real world outside the knowing 
subject. 

Why not maintain that knowledge is real in so 
far as it is a factor of the Absolute Knowledge, and 
that things are real in so far as they are objects of 
Absolute Knowledge? For there is, indeed, a unity 
of knowledge, things and the Self in the Absolute. 
But in the development of the Self through a world 
of imperfect knowledge, factors may enter in that 
are not real in the total experience of a perfected 
Self, that has entered into unity with Absolute 
Knowledge. When this attitude of a self -known ac- 
tivity of the Self is realized, factors or elements 
of the finite experience of that Self, that were not 
real in the sense of Absolute Knowledge, would 
vanish in the unity and domain of the Absolutely 
known Self. This attitude does not necessarily ad- 
mit of a leap from the empirical to the transcendent 
in the knowledge of the Absolute, but rather a clear- 
ing up of the knowing Self in the larger and richer 
cognitive experience in knowing and feeling, when 
the Self is known to be the Self, active in the Ab- 
solute Unity of Reality. 

Some things that have seemed real in the known 
experience of many persons, the consciousness of 



IN! THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 71 

naive and reflective subjects, have been discarded in 
a more comprehensive sphere of knowledge, and 
testify to the vanishing character of certain ele- 
ments of the experience of the race; and these were 
at most not more than means to an end — to an end 
which has been an Ideal to be developed more and 
more in the realization of the Self in the sphere and 
unity of Absolute Knowledge, through a relation of 
reciprocity in personal life, and loving service, in 
making the Self in its activity an expression of the 
Divine. 

The interpretation of the meaning of racial ex- 
perience and history in the light of the prophetic in- 
herently active element of knowledge, in the actuali- 
zation of the Ideal was leading up to an atti- 
tude of readiness for the Divine presence, and going 
ever on before in the discernment of the meaning 
of the individual acts as future foretelling in a logi- 
cal synthesis of probabilities. 

Even in personal experience there are times every 
one will admit it is no easy task to keep up with 
the meaning of experience and conscious states. 
Suppose one with a feeling of extraordinary light- 
ness and gayety, going to bed at night with a con- 
sciousness that is very desirable, free from care. 
Then to reflect that he had been getting along with- 
out his large dictionary, and that he had just taken 
it from his trunk and placed it on a stand by his 
writing desk. He hardly knowing why, since it 
seemed useless on account of not using it. Then 
in the morning while writing he was going to use 






72 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

a certain word. The pen took a slip, and as; if by 
the significance of the unintended a new word to 
him was written; one he had never used and did 
not know of its existence in the English language. 
Then looking into the dictionary to see if such 
word were there, he found it and discerned! its su- 
perior expressivenesis over the word he was going to 
use at the time of writing. Or take an example that 
does not concern the individual exclusively of the 
interests of Others, but concerns and commands 
racial interest as well as that of the individual. 
For instance, an article on Earthquakes is written 
in "The Advance," mentioning the following facts 
and reflections. "Earthquakes" were standard oc- 
currences in geological periods. The creatures of 
that day isaw them all the time, in fact, were worn 
out by them and gave up the battle. Man was the 
first creature to get into anything like or approach- 
ing harmonious relations with them, and he has 
been seriously jarred. Science also tells us that 
there are convulsions ahead, vast and sweeping de- 
structions. So that the earth seems to have come 
out of a quaking past and to be going into a quak- 
ing future. And we are on it, and here all genera- 
tions will be born and live out their lives between 
trembling fear and the joy of confidence. There- 
fore it is that an earthquake suggests much of grave 
thought and deep concern. It is an echo of the vast 
process out of which things came. It is an estima- 
tion of the mighty breaking up in which they will 
disappear. It gives us pause, and! in so doing it can 
teach us a good lesion. When it tells us that there 



INI THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 73 

is a clutch at this earth, which is not good for 
things endowed with immortal spirits, it sends a 
good message. When it turns palaces on Nob Hill 
into dust it points the way to better mansions. 
When it levels a city by the Golden Gate, it pro- 
claims the need of a city beyond the Eternal Gate. 
An earthquake is, after all, an echo of both science 
and religion, and proclaims to immortal man the 
need of a better and safer home than this. We need 
such a vision as John saw, the vision of a new 
heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the 
first earth were passed away. — Grapho. 

There are many experiences of the race and of the 
individual that show how much more there is in the 
world than simple voluntary force. And C. T. 
Ovenden, in the Hibbert Journal, pictures in glow- 
ing terms the originator of voluntary activity and 
shows that finite will is not the all in all of the 
world. There is a Power that gives to Will its 
power. The Power of Creative Mind is the Power of 
all voluntary activity. "Thought or will power is 
the originator of all voluntary force exercised by the 
body. A sleeper whose thought is dormant sends 
forth no voluntary force, but, when he awakens, 
the living thought fills his whole body with energy 
and activity. A thought transferred to another 
mind! may be expressed in a word or gesture; but 
the word of gesture is not the thought, it is only 
the medium by which the thought is perceived. Let 
me illustrate. A cloud is charged with electricity." 
With this illustration it must be remembered that 
the author draws from nature one of her subtlest 



74 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

secrets and applies it to the analogy of the human 
brain. The materiality of the conception plainly 
shows itself in the illustration, which has value for 
the idealistic position only in its suggestiveness with 
the interpretation of the external world. A cloud, 
he says, "Floating along, it approaches another 
cloud alsio charged. These clouds are not electric- 
ity, but electricity is somewhere in them. When 
they come, asi it were, within speaking distance, the 
mighty force leaps out with a blinding flash and 
reveals itself naked to the intervening space. So 
does brain icharged with thought approach another 
brain. As the thought passes from one to another in 
the spoken word, we see it naked for the moment. 
Analyze these brains, analyze the clouds, hold a 
postmortem examination on the dead brain or the 
dissolved cloud, and where is that thought or force 
discerned? The lightning leaves behind' it the 
mighty oak rent in twain — an evidence of its exist- 
ence and power. The thought of Eehoboam when 
spoken left a kingdom rent asunder. The thought 
of Mr. Kruger, flashing from Pretoria to London, 
exercised a force which welded together the mighty 
atoms of the British Empire. His thought fed 
thought and set thought in motion, and the unity 
of the Empire is founded and maintained! by 
thought. Who can say that the conscious thought 
is not an originator of force? The thought of Christ 
has revolutionized the western world." There are 
certain limitations in the world, especially of the 
fine arts and all expressions of form and color to 
the mind that requires such a, materialistic explan- 



INI THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 75 

ation of things. Such minds seem to gravitate 
heavily, and if they then doubt the reality the spir- 
itual world brings to their dull senses and mental 
perceptions in the spiritual consciousness, because 
of the limitations certain materials offer for the 
inspiration of the aesthetic sentiments; they miss 
the finer interpretation and discernment of the only 
absolutely Real World there is, What wonder with 
this mixture of impressions the saint wrote that 
now we know in part, but when that which is; per- 
fect is come, we shall know even as we are known ; 
and that now we see through a glass darkly; but 
when that which is in part shall be done away, 
we shall see even as we are seen ; for wlien He $hall 
appear we shall be like Him. Ais long as the realist 
or naturalist, or the natural man must depend upon 
his glass, he shall continue to go his way and forget 
what manner of Being he was. If by chance his 
mirror should be broken, what will he do with the 
broken crystals; and what is to become of his per- 
ception of a clear logical discernment. With a cu- 
bical mirror a correspondent in "Nature" experi- 
mented with successive flashes of light. About two 
revolutions per second caused the color to appear 
in a variety of shades and tints instead of white 
light, resembling what they call interference colors. 
Six revolutions caused them to disappear, and in 
their place was a uniform gray light. When the 
above-mentioned flashes of light were noticed on 
paper the colors appeared also. In this particular 
experiment the phenomenon of after-images of color 
perception occur within the limits of a certain rate 



76 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

in the succession of flashes; and there is evidently 
some time required in the mental process of light 
perception. 

One of the most interesting facts in art apprecia- 
tion is the relation of art and ideas. Bakewell, 
while writing on this topic, announces a satirical 
witticism of truth on what seems to be the natural 
depravity of human nature: "If one prefer to eat 
with his knife, to be slovenly in one's habits; if one 
prefer the latest ragtime to Beethoven, Marie Corel- 
lie to Thackery — then it is quite different. The 
De gustibus comes out with the accompanying drag : 
that soul is in jeopardy. Now the moment this 
third meaning creeps in, an appeal is in effect made 
to a norm or canon of good taste that is objec- 
tively valid; and thereby the standpoint of pure 
aestheticism is abandoned, and the work of art is 
brought within the scope of reason and morals." 
There are three distinct meanings to De gustibus 
non est disputandum. It may mean: (1) One can- 
not argue oneself or another into the enjoyment of 
a certain taste; (2) the "Live-and-let-live" of 
latitudiinarianism, which is very like democracy; 
(3) the feeling of the real superiority of the in- 
dividual aesthetic taste of egoism — with a De gusti- 
bus and a feeling toward the other : "Poor fellow ! 
You are no doubt a boor ; but it is hopeless to reason 
with you, for the root of the matter is not in you." 
By the path of beauty the soul rises into its King- 
dom and Reality. Just so truth and good deeds are 
regarded as desirable, even if it were for their 
beauty alone. Aristotle said : "God draws the world 



INI THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 77 

unto Himself as the beloved the lover." And' the 
same activity appearing in spiritual love, in human 
relations, in the free attachment of fair soul with 
fair soul, takes away the barriers between man and 
man; and discovers identity that emphasizes dis- 
tinction, a fact that may be a stumbling block to the 
formal logician. 

The function of aesthetic appreciation, and of the 
Ideal that organizes the world of aesthetic appreci- 
ations, is twofold: (1) Positive content in the per- 
ception of Absolute Reality considered as identical 
with the object of an individual quest ; with a con- 
sequent additional meaning for the notion of a 
causation that is free; and (2) the important sig- 
nificance to the unity-in-distinction of Absolute Self 
with Absolute Self when every such Self is a mem- 
ber of the Ideal commonwealth, a life of perfection 
in the "Kingdom of Ends." This unity-in-distinc- 
tion is represented also in the three activities of the 
Individual finite mind, upon which thfe normal con- 
sciousness seems to depend. Intellect, Will and 
Feeling can in no wise or strict sense be sundered 
from one another. Each is present in every phase 
or act of consciousness:, though there is an infinity 
in the number of different ways they may manifest 
their presence. 

Dr. H. B. Alexander, in the Psychological Review, 
gives an account of some observaitions on visual 
imagery. He classifies two types of images that 
would seem to be very inclusive of a wide range and 
variety of mental imagery as subjective or objective 
phenomena. He classifies them in two different 



78 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

types represented by A and B. A represents "Vo- 
luntary or memory images;; all images that may 
be called to mind or retained by an act of will." 
Memory images, in the simplest sensfe, afford the 
typical instance, but he includes along with simple 
reproductions all images consciously constructed 
from remembered elements; for example, a geomet- 
rical figure, a landscape ideally made up in accord- 
ance with the elements furnished by a description, 
or a mechanical device illustrated in the imagina- 
tion. B represents a class of "Spontaneous and 
irrelevant images, the salient characteristic of 
which is that they seem to determine their own 
occurrence, coming and going of their own accord. 
Of course, these images can be retained or repro- 
duced in memory, but the retention or reproduc- 
tion involves a change of quality, it removes that 
assert of surprise and! perversity which gives ®o 
much of their forcefulness, and usually it projects 
them into new a.ssociational environments and new 
special contents." A suggestion occurs to me that 
the rate of mental activity in thought or feeling, 
whether aesthetic or emotional has somewhat to do 
with the nature and character of these two different 
classes of images, particularly in the fluctuations of 
appearance and reappearance, change in forms and 
relations in space, variety of shades and intensity 
of colors, and probably the classification of the 
a and 6 kinds. 

It has been observed also that the effect of certain 
drugs is often very similar to that of voluntary 
control over the action of the mind in its super- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TEUTH 79 

normal activities. Earnest Dunbar in the Proceed- 
ings of the Society for Psychical Research, experi- 
menting with ether and! its effects on consciousness, 
found that memory is not very acute, but reason is 
active and awake. While under the influence and 
experiencing this condition he quickly wrote the 
following note lest he should forget without a re- 
minder : "Under the abnormal, memory is gradually 
lost, reason never." Reason takes advantage of an 
incident, and at the same time seems to appreciate 
the part played by itself, when the external world! is 
seeming more like a dream than a reality. It is said 
that "The sense of time is disturbed under ether, 
chloroform, and nitrous oxide." And that "it is not 
changed in a recognizable way as under Cannabis 
Indica, but at a certain stage of the anaesthesia the 
time sense vanishes." In general, there is a certain 
physical effect that accompanies the action of an- 
aesthetics, such as the dissolving of oils, etc.; some, 
of course, have a slower action than others one 
way or another. It is said that "With chloroform, 
the first inhalation produces its effect ; even a pow- 
erful sniff from a bottle of chloroform may be fol- 
lowed by a queer feeling." Says Dunbar, "Three 
students besides myself have noticed the flashing 
of stars in the visual field, synchronous with the 
heart-beats under the action of chloroform." Two 
of them noticed that each bright point described a 
peculiar circular motion. "The movement was in the 
path of a boomerang, rather than in a true circle." 
He says that he does not know any reason for it, but 
thinks it curious that two persons should have ob- 



80 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

served the same fact. The stars increased in 
number when the anaesthesia deepened, and still 
appeared over the entire field of vision when the 
eyes were opened. It was noticed that along with 
this anaesthesia the visual field; gradually grows 
darker. 

I have noticed the same phenomena or similar 
and much more varied by the simple effort of volun- 
tary control of attention, in the study of what has 
been termed subjective lights and colors. Dunbar 
refers to another experience of his own which he did 
not know that any other observed. For this reason 
he classes it as having no value. He gays, "It 
seemed to me that deep down somewhere in my 
consciousness, voices were wriangling and quarrel- 
ing. Sometimes over a trifle, such as the closing 
of a door. The voices were perfectly distinct and 
generally disagreeable." At other times he per- 
ceived them talking, as it were, to him : "So you 
think we've got you again." Then he would think, 
"Oh! won't you leave mie alone? I want to rest," 
and the answer would c'ome: "We'll have the last 
word" ; then would ensue a muttering and a grumb- 
ling, that sometimes arose to a whining complaint 
from those voices. It was observed that they last 
quite a short time, and do not begin usually until 
some time has elapsed. The nature of this phe- 
nomena, I think, is very probably determined by 
personal traits of the individual character or ac- 
tivity, positive or reactive in his struggle with life 
and environment of the world's influences. In other 
individuals the character of this phenomena may be 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 81 

altogether different. What experience I have had of 
a similar kind was in mental concentration, required 
in the study of double consciousness and multiple 
personality. When my attention Was first called to 
this it began with an almost irresistible impulse to 
write in a dialogue of two distinct personalities. 
It wlas more or less startling, and when thus sprung 
suddenly upon one all alone in his study, there 
seemed a great tendency for thought and the pen to 
run riot with too great liberty threatening logical 
construction. When at last these impressions were 
given a free course for whatever they might be 
worth. It was found that however illogical and 
absurd they might seem at the time being, they were 
in the long run connected by some kind of a logical 
sequence. Some of them, and in general they 
seemed to personal consciousness, like the commu- 
nications of invisible spirits!, sometimes of a very 
low and sometimes of a very high order; and then 
again they seemed like recognized thought of other 
persons with whom I was very intimately ac- 
quainted! personally. I soon began to recognize, 
however, that the character of these was determined 
by the mental attitude dominating. They were not 
always recognized as voices from within, but most 
frequently as signs of assent and dissent in the air 
and often nearby — sometimes by the symbols of 
white and black flashes in quick changes of position. 
At one time there would be mental peace and rest in 
the harmonious realm of the Ideal, as it were, hold- 
ing sweet communion with angelic spirits and re- 
ceiving their counsel and ministering attentions to 



82 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

spiritual needs worn by conflict. Then would! come 
a period of another conflict with an inharmonious 
spiritual environment, that seemed all too real in 
a spiritual sense, to the extent of what religion 
would call fighting the Devil with his hosts from 
the realm of darkness, I found studies of magic 
helpful in getting control of these lower disturbing 
elements of the mental and physical world of sen- 
sation and perception; but the real and true and 
victorious principle in all these mental and spiri- 
tual conflicts; was the Love of an Ideal. 

It must be remembered that Dunbar in his ex- 
periments has observed! the mental and physical ef- 
fects of certain states of consciousness, that, to 
begin with, was. initiated by a physical agency. He 
noticed that "The action of ether, if inhaled diluted 
with about sixty per cent, of air, is fairly gradual. 
The first symptoms are a sense of oppression in the 
head, and profuse salivation. The face feels hot, 
and the peripheral arteries are dilated. This hap- 
pens quite an appreciable time before any mental 
symptoms appear. Next the drama of early alco- 
holic intoxication is enacted again, with this differ- 
ence, that there is seldom any staggering or diffi- 
culty in walking about correctly ; and!, since under 
ether the muscular sense is diminished just as un- 
der alcohol, the conclusion is that the staggering 
after alcohiol is due to early affection of the cere- 
bellum. Next comes the sensation that the body 
is just as much a part of the environment as any- 
thing else, and it is perhaps this sensation which, 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 83 

together with the wide-awake intelligence, compels 
the individual to adopt the standard of subjective 
idealism; which, in its turn, drives him to think 
that at last the solution of the mystery is dawning 
upon him." His own experience under ether, Dun- 
bar says, he shall never forget. He experienced 
nothing like it under chloroform or ethyl bromide, 
though he noticed something of the same feeling 
that lasted for a few minutes after inhaling ethvl 
iodide. In his mind, he says, "Thought seemed to 
race like a mill-wheel. Nothing was lost — -every 
trifling phenomena seemed to fall into its place as 
a logical event in the universe. As in Sir William 
Ramsay's experience, everything seemed so Abso- 
lute. It was either yes or no. Either this was not 
reality or it was. If it was not, then it seemed to me 
in the nature of things that I would never know 
reality. Then it diawned upon me that the only 
logical position was subjective idealism, and, there- 
fore, my experience must be reality. Then by de- 
grees I began to realize that I was the One, and the 
universe of which I was the principle was balancing 
itself into 'completeness. All thought seemed strug- 
gling to a logical conclusion; every trifling move- 
ment in the world outside my consciousness repre- 
sented a perfectly logical step in the final readjust- 
ment, I could hear my heart-throbs getting longer 
and longer. At length I felt they would cease, and 
the drama of existence would be over. I remem- 
bered all the time feeling so strong a repugnance 
to this termination that I ceased administering any 



84 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

more of the stuff and got up. Things! seemed! ob- 
jective and tangible while I was walking about, 
but, on lying down again, the same experience com- 
menced again, with this difference, that now ac- 
count had to be taken of the first experience in 
order to bring about the same conclusion. Just as 
the psychological moment came, I moved my arm, 
and the isame process commenced again. I let it 
go on to the bitter end this time, and as the moment 
of extinction arrived I felt strangely normal, and 
not a bit sleepy. " 

Quite a number of these experiences I myself 
have noticed without the use of any anaesthetic, 
drug or physical influence; particularly those ex- 
periences concerned; with the rapidity of thought, 
subjective Idealism,, the Absolute ordering of the 
universe, etc. ; and realizing that "I wais the One," 
judging, ordering and bringing all things into a 
harmonious and vital relation with the system of 
reality determined by the Absolute Will and the 
heavenly Ideal of a perfect Life; and a living per- 
sonal relation of all life with all reality, which 1 
recognize as personal will and intelligence that is 
creative and artistic, in a sphere or world of cre- 
ative activity through a universal and absolute law 
of spiritual Love. But the experience with myeslf 
was not produced by any drug or physical influence 
that I know of whatever. In my judgment and esti- 
mation the dynamic and causal element was purely 
mental and Idealistic, due to a consummation of 
knowledge. 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 85 

Dunbar thinks that "Under the influence of ether, 
there is no doubt the mind is highly stimulated, and 
it is extremely difficult to see where the cerebral de- 
pression comes in — at least in relation to the higher 
faculty of thought. There is nothing essentially 
illogical in the Fichtean standpoint; it is only 
strange that so trifling an action as taking ether 
should condition the ultimate realization of that 
standpoint. Under ether this would present no dif- 
ficulty to one's mind. One would simply feel that 
in a scheme where logic was the beginning and end 
of all change, no such thing as a trifle could exist — 
that life had led up to the inhalation of ether, and 
this was to be the end of it all." 

The significant thing in this discussion is — that 
ether should have the same effect in many respects 
that a very high mental activity of a purely psychi- 
cal character has on the nature and quality of 
thought in the knowledge of Self and Reality. I 
remember of referring to this in a conversation with 
two divinity students on this topic once, rather in- 
cidentally as a table remark. Divinity student A 
came in a little late to dinner. Divinity student B 
looked to me and! said, A has just come from the 
hospital. It was meant for a metaphysical state- 
ment of a witticism, but we made the best of it. B 
continued, "A looks pale, does he not?" Then he 
asked me if I had a philosophical explanation for 
the effect of ether. I replied that it has the effect 
of decentralization, whatever that is. Then A be- 
gan to make some guessing statements that were 



86 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

meant to strike at me with regard to love affairs. 
Some one asked who told him,. I suggested before 
he had time to reply — psychoses are telling him. 
He looked somewhat astonished and did not say 
much more on the subject. The rest of the com- 
pany were also turned to a thoughtful mood, and 
I was wafted for a time into the reflection on the 
nature of psychoses and their relation to the per- 
sonal ego. The significance of the unintended? 
Perhaps, but infinitely more than that. The unin- 
tended suddenly jumping into evidence would have 
no meaning, were there not a logical, predeter- 
mined activity of thought in the Universal as well 
as the Individual mind. Causality is qualitative, 
rather than quantitative. 

Do you ask how I distinguish between conscious- 
ness and self -consciousness? I reply, by the test of 
harmony or not harmony with the Hi^he'st Ideal 
and Purpose. The Ideal Self-consciousnessi is per- 
fectly harmonious!, and that which is not in perfect 
adjustment, with the Ideal is a part of one's con- 
sciousness, but not the true consciousness of Self. 
We are always in some degree self-consicious, so 
long as our Ideal has a right to claim: a place in 
the Absolute harmony of a Self-conscious mind; 
though there may be states of consciousness in 
which one's Ideal Social Consciousness may seem 
far off. These are probably the most distinguish- 
ing characteristics of a genuine Self-consciousness 
— the recognition of the actual state of the world 
environment and the constant relation with the 



IN! THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 87 

Ideal through the clear perceptive activity of a true 
personality in the Absolute harmony of a Self-con- 
scious Being. And our Self -consciousness: is a de- 
velopment so long as our Ideal is our quest of 
Truth, and we forever keep the eye of the mind 
fixed on that Ideal. In so much as Truth is an ele- 
ment of the Self, Self-consciousness is perfect. 



PART IV. 

THE IDEAL-REAL UNITY OF PERCEPTION. 

When we come to the point of discerning the 
unity of perception, and in what it consists, we are 
face to face with a very evanescent, filmy, evasive 
and more or less equivocal problem. What is the 
meaning of Kant's failure to completely provide for 
a rational faith in GOD by the authority of the 
moral constitution of the race? And how account 
for thought transference that is seemingly indepen- 
dent of sensation? Perception has a wide range, 
and extends all the way from sensation to the most 
subtle and transitory elements of the Religious 
Consciousness. It is neither excluded from the seat 
of religious authority, or from the constructions of 
the mind in the Idealistic consummation of Ex- 
perience, individual and social. It is necessary to 
guard against being drawn away by the too me- 
chanical side of psychological experiment, on the 
one hand; and too loose a habit of thinking in 
psychological speculation on the other. The signi- 
ficance of a logical mind in this connection shows 
itself. But a logical mind 1 has not and is not going 
to spring by any simple inductive and deductive 
scheme from the dry bones of a cold and formal 
logic. Logic m'ay break up an irrational tie, and 
prepare the mind for a perception of the True and 
the Beautiful, but it is the type of ignorance for 
anyone to attempt to emphasize simple logical me- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 89 

tihod out of its sphere. Scientific analysis justly 
looks to Logic for aid in theorizing on Light, Ether 
and the Moral Order of the Universe ; Logic may be 
the companion of Imagination in seeking inspira- 
tion and — all too true— avoiding the luring Will-o- 
the-wisp. Birds and poets yield their magic in rich 
secrets disclosed to the discerning mind, when the 
day is awake to Life and the evening air fraught 
with the magic power of nature's beauty and trans- 
formations. The Divine glow of Wisdom enables 
the Genius of Art to see in the new knowledge the 
development of modern philosophy. And the rela- 
tionships of Absolute Knowledge, in the freedom 
of authority, seek the Divine incarnation with man 
for the religion that satisfies the educated mindl 
The nature of human individuality is no longer a 
riddle of multiple personality. 

We come now to the point of considering in what 
sense psychical states are extended. The relation 
of subjective and objective factors in perception, as 
well as the relation of likeness and difference in the 
elements of judgment. Perhaps various sense illu- 
sions not exactly corresponding with one's custom- 
ary habit of observation, influence the activity of 
judgment one way or the other. For instance, the 
influence of color on the estimation of the magni- 
tude of objects has been noticed, when color sur- 
faces are seen on a darker background. The least 
refrangible colors of the spectrum, and also redish 
purple, show a decided tendency to make the eye 
overestimate extension, while for the more refran- 
gible part of the spectrum there is a marked under- 



90 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

estimation. The judgment of equality in surface 
magnitudes shows a degree of considerable accur- 
acy; and for white this is little greater than for 
colored surfaces. And it is said, that "White or 
colored surfaces of moderate size, seen on a dark 
background, are underestimated in size when seen 
in motion towards or from the eye." There is a 
claim that asserts a manifest "difference between 
extension as it is in the soul and extension as it is 
in the physical world. For the movement and the 
collision of material things is not present in the 
soul, or, rather, is not present in its full and com- 
plete nature." Bradley says, "The extensions in the 
soul need have no spatial relation to the physical 
world, nor again amongst themselves need they be 
spatially related to one another. When any phe- 
nomena are related spatially they are ipso facto 
parts of one 'spatial wttiole — so much is certain," he 
thinks. And "The soul contains extensions and it 
contains many extensionis, but the soul is not ex- 
tended." The result of his whole inquiry Bradley 
thinks is briefly this. "The unity of the soul is not 
spatial, nor as a whole is the soul extended. But 
here and there, without any doubt, it has features 
which are extended. And the soul is extended in 
respect to these features, while you consider it 
merely so far and regard it fragmentairily." 

I cannot agree with Bradley's views exactly, 
though there seems to be something in fact and 
reality that corresponds with the main principles of 
his point of view. I would accept what might be 
called rather a parallel than an identical view with 



IN( THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 91 

Bradley's ; and as be admits, may have little or no 
relation. 

It is a question whether what he conceives of as 
space has any ontological value. If the old maxim 
is true : that the Individual is a part of every other 
he has met, there are some one would not wish to 
be a part of one's Self, because they are not a part 
of what is conceived to be the Absolute World and 
personality. This I would regard as Bradley's ex- 
tended world having no relation to the Soul. But 
the extended Ideals of the Soul which are recog- 
nized as the self in relation with all that is Abso- 
lutely real in the world of the Soul, I would also 
regard as not separate from the soul itself. The 
Soul is in and through these and all space. The 
real space, I think, is the Life of a Soul ; and every 
space that is a part of the Absolute fills all space. 
The individual personality that is a real space or 
extended world of his own, through intimate arti- 
culation of subjective and objective factors, is in 
the real world, and is in eternal life the expression 
of the Absolute, through communion with all that is 
permanently fair and! beautiful and godlike. 

There is much light on these facts of experience, 
observed as mental, in unconscious cerebration and 
in what Hyslop gives an account of as a cerebral 
after-image. These are not necessarily visual ; they 
may be auditory or any other cognitive function 
or faculty of the mind that is active in perception. 
At this moment the story I once wrote for a mis- 
sionary society some years ago, occurs to memory 
as a good example of what is meant by this type 



92 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of after-image. It is called a Thanksgiving Story, 
and is a more or less poetic representation of many 
things come across in psychological experiments, 
that have been elucidated more and more during 
later years of research. 

Someone said, I think it was Kant, "All tihat 
changes is permanent, and only the condition there- 
of changes; * * * permanence is, in fact, just 
anlother expression for time as the abiding correlate 
of 'all existence of phenomena, and of all changes, 
anjdi of all coexistences. For chjange does not affect 
time itself, but only the phenomena in time." More- 
over, "If we were to attribute succession to time 
itself, we should be obliged to cogitate another time, 
in which the succession would be possible." In the 
phenomena of after-images there seems to be a sep- 
arate white li^ht process; and the complementary 
colors that succeed each other, and alternate from 
one to the other, do n'ot destroy each other ; but they 
seem to represent the wMte and black — positive and 
negative. Even if it should be regarded analogi- 
cally in view of the additional element of aesthetic 
or non-aesthetic color perception — there is little rea- 
son for supposing the presence of any destructive 
process. They indicate, with careful time measure- 
ments, the activity of a harmonious process of 
rhythm in definite time relations on the wavelike 
crests of attention, perception, aesthetic apprecia- 
tion and .symmetrical fixation of consciousness. 

Experiments with after-images brings out the dis- 
tinction between sense perception in which the 
senses require an objective stimulus, and ideal per- j 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 93 

ception that is determined by the central factors of 
the personality — such as memory or familiarity, 
imagination or the poetic sentiment, and associa- 

C tion or the laws of the Reason in the synthetic 
activities of judgment. Miss Elsie Murray of Coi 

. nell University calls this discrimination and con- 

j trast of images in the visual field, "Peripheral and 
Central Factors in Memory Images of Visual Form 

| and Color." Her voluntary and involuntary meth- 
od, with eye movement and fixation, covers about 

! the same field as the method required for the time 
measurements of the different processes of con- 
sciousness in the perception of light, form and 
color. She has, however, investigated, to some 
extent of thoroughness, the intricacies of the ex- 
perimental science in three distinct groups of class- 
ification: (1) "Involuntary Method" with fixation 
materials; and getting these results. The data 
collected was negative in character of evidence re- 
garding any immediate correlation between dura- 
tion or excellence of reproduction and any of the 
peripheral factors considered. All indications 
pointed rather to the significance of central condi- 
tions, either in the recording or in the observation 
period, for the critical factors in determining the 
character, duration and frequency of the image. 
To these central conditions the peripheral factors 
are supposed to stand in varying and manifold re- 
lations, indirectly affecting reproduction. (2) 
These are concluding evidences of "Involuntary 
Method with Eye-Movement," The appearance of 
the image in consciousness did not necessarily de- 



94 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

pend on the conscious mental tracery of its limits. 
In fact the image is impaired by any attempt to 
imagine any dependence of the kind. The simulta- 
neous appearance of the different parts are also 
hindered. This will be remembered to be just the 
opposite of what was observed in connection with 
articulate discrimination of parts' on the color- 
mixing wheel. Fixation during exposure affords 
the more favorable condition for the reproduction 
of the image. There are several reasons for this: 
It may secure a more impartial distribution of 
attention over the figure and give a clearer im- 
pression as a unity ; or through the associations set 
up between the retinal image and the sensations 
involved in fixation, by the law of association these 
sensations when repeated or reproduced with the 
image might constitute a more potent retention of 
the image than the fleeting sensations producible 
by irregular or transitory ocular movements could 
afford. In general it seems that it is not exactly 
ocular movement that is concerned in these ob- 
servations on the color wheel and with after- 
images, but certain special motor accompaniments 
of the state of visual attention, that contribute the 
most effective conditions of reproduction in vision. 
On the whirling color-disk a lapse or change of 
attention allows the original colors to appear in 
flashes; while an after-image clearly defined and 
brilliant from a definitely fixed figure requires a 
degree of heightened intensity of attention. (3) 
"Voluntary and Involuntary Method with Fixa- 
tion" shows that "There is an optional size and 



IJJI THE PEKCEPTION OF TRUTH 95 

complexity for visual reproducibility, dependent on 
the range of attention/- And the conditions that 
obtain at the time of exposure are said to be criti- 
cal for reproduction, because certain differences 
in reproducibility are constant both with volun- 
tary and involuntary recall. Then along with the 
various central factors that condition the appear- 
ance and distinctness of the image, "the kines- 
thetic elements of fixation play an important role." 
It may be well concluded that "Neither the attri- 
butes of the stimulus, qualitative or spatial, nor the 
general ocular movements to which these attributes 
may give rise, constitute the important differential 

I factor in visual reproduction." In memory images 
especially, reappearance and persistence, distinct- 
ness and general accuracy of reproduction are "con- 

I ditioned primarily upon the relation of the stimu- 
lus or image to central conditions," and perhaps 
influenced by certain special motor phenomena ac- 
companying fixation. This would be an interesting 
point of view if advanced to an investigation of 
the relation of Psychology and Philosophy, and 

1 also a consideration of Evolution and the Absolute. 
For any human being to try to force their will 

j upon another personality, is a useless task and 
worse than wasted energy. It makes the consciously 
discerning mind bear more than a due share of 
the burden of life. It will be perhaps sufficient 
time to carry the work of Logic and Imagination 
in the perception of Truth to the limits of the 
human understanding when that which has been 
made so opaque by the human imagination shall 



96 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

become clear enough to see through. It is the 
mission of Logic in a high degree to radiate suf- 
ficient light to clear away the fog of the mystical 
work of humanism; and, in her true sphere, the 
imagination must co-operate with Logic. If science 
were to espouse Evolution as the ultimate and 
complete explanation of all things, and straightway 
attempt to construct a conception of the Absolute 
on that principle alone, there might be a host of 
misconceptions about the truth of Reality; like 
over-ripe great red-heart cherries which the won- 
derer plucks and tastes to his disgust of their sick- 
ening sweetness. And then trudging along is star- 
tled by the sudden uprising of an old mother goose 
inflated to a monster, horrid and loathsome, be- 
cause she was found to be ignorantly hatching on 
a cockatrice. 

Evolution has its sphere, but it is not the all 
and in all of the Absolute Reality. And so long 
as it is left to work in its own little sphere, it has 
a place in the system of Reality. But if religion 
makes a mistake in estimating the scope of evolu- 
tion, to the disregard or utter neglect of the teleo- 
logical principle, it is time to look — and seeing, 
consider. Does the world represent characters in 
a series of dramatic experiences? Is there an old 
clutch at Judaism, reaching with a grudge and 
hatred for the light of a spiritualized Ideal Life and 
religion? Is there a brutish adversary, like the 
Old Man as an unwilling helper and assistant? 
Are there witches and spirits that defile the light, 
and muffle the clear ringing of Truth by their 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 97 

weird voices? There is need for man to beware 
of the tragedy of Faust. The voice of the people 
may call on the Three persons for demonstration 
and proofs for the mediums of Truth; but they 
will have to find them in a conscious relation 
wisely directing all the activities of Judgment, and 
share the satisfaction of complete perception. They 
may have to take flight through the air in escape 
from the crude materialism; and accept the invisi- 
ble, miraculous escape by the substitution in the 
spiritual significance of the atonement, and the 
divine law of reacting motives: With what judg- 
ment ye judge, ye shall be judged. 

In the new world of Ideal Perception, $omte 
lagging minds may question the nature of Reality, 
but the Judge and the Three persons may justly 
reply: Suppose a tree or a stick for a symbol of 
reality. Then with simple questions that are clear 
and definite and personal, they may establish a 
clear discernment of the relation of subjective and 
objective factors in the act of knowing and per- 
ceiving. For instance, how do you know that you 
as first person see that tree or stick? How do you 
know that you as second person see that tree or 
stick? How do you know that you as third person 
see that tree or stick? How do you know that you 
as third person see that tree or stick as first per- 
son? How do you know that you as third person 
see that tree or stick as first and second persons see 
it? Then do you say that these are conditions of 
reality? Indeed, but they are conditions that are 
fulfilled, and the conditions themselves must have 



98 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

had a cause before they can be filled. There is a 
design and there is a final purpose, and each beau- 
tiful object fulfils its Idea and purpose of the 
Absolute Order and Design. But all things are 
not perceived as perfect, and then it is a puzzling 
and hard saying. The voice of the people cries 
out, "I do not see why there must be sin on the 
grounds of the Good." 

The Judge exclaims, "Why do you want sin any- 
where in the World?" Perhaps with the presence 
of a Higher Wisdom, spiritual sense and finer per- 
ception, sin will disappear. With the elimination 
of sin comes a new scene. But the old Jewish in- 
stinct — which, for convenience, may be represented 
by "Abe" — seeks to entangle the Judge by refer- 
ring in a skeptical way to the incarnation, and the 
date of a birth. Mistaking no reply for ignorance, 
"Abe" exultingly declares "Why, the fruits of his 
life and work came many years after that." But too 
late for such historical quibbling over letter and 
form, dates and authenticity. Historical develop- 
ments have been rolled up like a scroll; and the 
Judge declares in stern manner, "What significance 
has that with the present logical series of events?" 
It was only the fulfilment of prophecy, but "Abe" 
is angry and dashes down upon the Judge with 
a scourge of many straps, beating a stunning blow. 
The effect is perhaps a wilderness of ideas, and 
only a reed broken down with the wind. A quick 
transformation and the illusion is taken from the 
mind of the persecutor, who perceives the unreality 
of his act; Then "Abe" in dire disappointment 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 99 

pitches himself headlong from an upper story. The 
vanity of a haughty spirit has taken wings and 
left him, and "Abe" perceives himself as he is — 
a foolhardy wretch, without an anchor of hope or 
the wings of light. Without a purpose, without a 
will, without the principle of right to determine his 
choice for a redeemed life. Some one in mercy at 
the command of the Judge hurries to rescue "Abe" 
from a malicious attempt at self destruction. Then 
the Judge sails aw^ay into the air free and far 
above the taunts and gross intents of his adver- 
saries, who seek to destroy him by all kinds of 
witchery and the blackest of art. But the Judge, 
equal to all occasions and transcendently superior 
to those who have sold themselves to sin, escapes 
every design of their scheming minds, and perisha- 
ble trappings of existence. 

Wise Judgment and the one who is never baffled 
by a complicated affair or situation because of 
the discernment of ultimate realities, can make 
use of the efforts of destructive criticism for his 
own good and the preservation of the Ideal religion, 
and can turn even their evil intents and motives 
to the good effects of constructive and Creative 
Mind. 

What they attempt to do unto him they finally 
and by their own mistake do to themselves; and 
not, indeed, to the one who is not deserving of the 
blame they lay on him. Spiritual distress is a 
severe test of the Perfect Life. 

By well known authorities the absolute aesthetic 
threshold is considered higher than the Epicurean 



100 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

life of sensation. But there is a certain relation of 
the aesthetic life to the feelings of pleasantness and 
unpleasantness. The ordinary course of the affec- 
tive reaction depicted generally by psychologies, 
shows that feelings do not appear responsive to 
very faint, though sensible, stimuli; yet "as the 
intensity increases the limen of pleasantness is 
reached and passed, and maximal pleasure at- 
tained; from this point the intensity of feeling 
decreases up to a stage of indifference ; and this in 
turn gives way to liminal unpleasantness." With 
a method that is not variable in the detection of 
slight differences of feeling, that would make pos- 
sible direct comparison of feelings — the difference 
between the sensation and feeling threshold may 
not be so apparent. Diagramatically this may be 
represented by comparing two circles chosen at va- 
rious points between the sensation and aesthetic 
thresholds. "A" and "B" are either clearly dis- 
tinguishable, or they are both distinguishable and 
not distinguishable. Fechner was of the opinion 
that a greater combination of the stimulus is re- 
quired to bring the impression to a full strength. 
An aesthetic stimulus is a process of the mind in 
the act of Judgment, and a certain continuance 
of the activity is necessary before its effect is ob- 
servable as aesthetic sentiment. 

The degree and change of degree in the possession 
and use of attention that is most satisfactory de- 
pends on individual relations of physical and psy- 
chical power. The sooner the need of a change 
arises the greater the approximation to uniformity, 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 101 

and the stronger the demand for a change the 
longer the need is not satisfied. In physical re- 
lations the recognized need of a mental or spiritual 
change for aesthetic satisfaction, is actualized and 
accomplished by degrees, and not by a flash in- 
stantaneously as in the justification of an attitude 
or the validation of an idea by truth. Too much 
or too little occupation in a given time gives the 
natural man a sense of displeasure. Fechner's 
principle of habit is that, "a pleasurable stimulus 
becomes a necessity through frequent action or 
repetition/' and that "a disagreeable stimulus be- 
comes more easily endurable." 

The effect of perception in relation with aesthetic 
reflection is often evident in fixating the attention 
on the exclusive study or enjoyment of a work of 
art that has a great deal of aesthetic and spiritual 
significance. For instance in looking for a long 
time at Ruben's "Descent from the Cross/' H — 
could feel the "pulling on the teeth of the cloth 
held in the mouth of one of the men and the mus- 
cular strength he was obliged to exert." And in 
looking at this picture all the reagents are said to 
have felt the physical pain in connection with the 
taking down of the body from the cross. The feel- 
ing of sensations contribute to giving that particu- 
lar kind of reality to the picture, of which the rea- 
gents frequently speak when they have given their 
attention to the perception of the aesthetic signifi- 
cance of the meaning of the acts represented. And 
that reality, which may be called Ideal, has a de- 
cided influence on judgment. 



102 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

Everyone who has a sense of aesthetic apprecia- 
tion in any degree is a reagent. Fechner makes a 
great deal of the part played by attention in 
esthetic appreciation. "The attention," he says, 
"must be first put or kept on the stretch." There 
is a difficulty of holding the attention in connection 
with a picture when there begins a relaxation of 
pleasurableness and aesthetic enjoyment. This is 
generally referred to by reagents, and with it the 
value of art as an aid to maintaining the spiritual 
initiative on a sufficiently high level to exert and 
predetermine a physical and organic influence in 
establishing a norm for the culture of aesthetic taste 
is lessened. "Everything with which we are sur- 
rounded is for us physically characterized through 
a resultant of remembrances of everything which 
we have experienced externally and internally, 
heard, thought, and learned concerning this and 
even related things." 

An example of pseudo - chromaesthesia as an 
aesthetic factor is represented by a subject looking 
at Burne- Jones' "Love among the Ruins." The sub- 
ject afterward said, "Here I see back of the two 
figures actually in the picture a shadowy passage 
winding from left to right and in it, close to the 
left wall, the crouching form of a man. He is 
partly hidden by the shadows, his face screened. 
His direction of movement is towards the two fig- 
ures in the garden." The same subject looking at 
Apollo of Praxiteles, said, "I see here below the 
pedestal the slender marble column on which it 
rests. It stretches down to a base, set among 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 103 

broken rocks." These are frequent forms of illu- 
sion. Love among the ruins might suggest love 
among the roses by contrast. And there might be 
a host of historical suggestions revived, if the sub- 
ject is a lover of history. And in so far as the per- 
ception of artistic design in the expression is true, 
and the logical series and sequence of events is 
comprehended, the unseen elements of the sketch 
may appear with sufficient intensity for visualiza- 
tion, even to the extent of arousing the motor ele- 
ments in vision by the laws of association, histori- 
cal or the immediately present conditions of a logi- 
cal use of the imagination. 

One might see in a picture a partial representation 
of his Ideal, marvelously conceived and portrayed 
by the artist, and then with the idea of futurity 
project an universally applicable association of re- 
lated ideals, or retrace the suggestive associations 
into the fact world of the historical past; until 
there might result the great synthetic conception 
of a united reality of the past and the future in 
the present, with one's little individual Ideal-real 
world of thought experience and Reality. The real- 
ist may call it extatic perception of non-essentials 
either for ethical culture of life or religion, 
but he ought to recognize that he is a very unwel- 
come visitor in his style and manner of sneering 
comment. In the Absolute sense of the term it can 
probably be regarded as immoral to steal, destroy 
or take away the aesthetic sense of appreciation in 
the Ideal, as he would regard the loss of his com- 
mercial wealth. And if the perception of an Ideal 



104 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

pricks his conscience, he has been ready to strike a 
conflict with the one who has taken the pains to 
show him the aesthetic and spiritual reality of 
the Ideal. 

Illusions make up much of the complexity of life, 
and constitute much of the aesthetic enjoyment. 
There has been a threefold classification of illu- 
sions with reference to pictures. (1) Pictures in 
which the same illusion occurred repeatedly. (2) 
Pictures presenting different illusions at different 
times. (3) Pictures that present an illusion at only 
one view and no illusion at others. There is no 
doubt that previous thought or occupation influ- 
ences the nature and appearance of the illusion 
to a very great and sometimes extensive degree. A 
surface cut by a line is likely to cause an illusion. 
It seems to indicate the relation of decentralization 
or divided attention with the conscious discern- 
ment of illusions : and the significance of the teleo- 
logical principle shows itself when the mind is di- 
rected toward some particular end, — illusions are 
not likely to appear. The pictures that contain illu- 
sions are those that recur more readily to the mind 
after seeing; and the illusions occur generally to- 
ward the more heavily shadled side. Whatever else 
the appearance of such illusions may imply, it 
seems clear that suggestiveness and space •concep- 
tion for the placing of an illusion are prime charac- 
teristics of the pictures in which they appear. Ex- 
citability increases the vividness and complexity 
of an illusion, while preoccupation and depression 
decrease it. And the miore vivid the illusions the 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 105 

sooner they tire, with weariness and consequent 
disappearance some time later. This is probably a 
general rule with few r exceptions. The term illusion 
in this instance has been applied to all mental ap- 
pearances placed externally, and especially those 
which seem to have a reactionary subjective influ- 
ence. There is sfome connection between the liking 
of a picture and) the illusive occurrence, but it is 
hard to distinguish, and not reasonably possible to 
say which is the cause and which the effect. 

Some conclusions from these observations are, 
that the mind has the ability to locate in space re- 
lations of associative memory, mental images in 
such a w r ay that they do not appear different nec- 
essarily from real images. The exercise of this 
ability is conditioned by the mental attitude, and 
perhaps by the physical state of the reagent, and 
by his immediate environment. The content of the 
mental images is affected by former experience, and 
by preoccupation, — also by the kind of surface pre- 
sented for the reproduction. Generally a decided 
fondness for a picture and certain illusions with 
reference to mental suggestion go hand in hand. 
It is possible and desirable to increase aesthetic 
appreciation through the use of suggestion. Fech- 
ner recognizes this in a practical statement of one of 
his principles: "In general man is so constituted 
that the mood of his environment is transmitted to 
him." 

It is a very desirable quality or attribute in man 
to be able to determine this influence of his environ- 



106 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ment and of his own constitution in such a way that 
will always add to his aesthetic appreciation of 
things that are really beautiful and ideally power- 
ful in the development of a perfect, absolute, ethical 
experience; actively realizing in external creative 
manifestation of the Personal Absolute, the Being 
of the World, and the essence and likewise content 
of all Reality, as the Originator and loving Spirit in 
a free Kingdom of personal Beings harmonious and 
unified in an eternal w^orld of a spiritually aesthetic 
appreciation of the divinely beautiful. 

The mind cannot be satisfied with any system or 
scheme of pure subjectivism. Beauty is a kind of 
subjective element in the Object. The life of the 
mind consists in a kind of intimate articulation of 
subjective and objective factors; and the will to 
live is manifest in the realization of the Other by 
the Ego in actual relations of true Being. Face 
to face with ultimate realities, the ego of falsehood 
and error — if there be one that has translated love 
into hate — may sympathize with the poetess: 

"Farewell !" I wrote, "You love me not ! 
That fact is plain, Miss Bly. 
Unless some token I receive, 
I am resolved to die." 

Though error translates love into hate, the Ego of 
Truth may yet reply: 

"Today two cards the postman brought, 
Now what can they imply? 
One pictures Salem's 'Lover's Leap' ; 
One is 'The Bluff at Rye' !" 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 107 

The one who makes the final step to the ultimate 
reality of Truth, is either a genius or a fool. 

The main puzzle of philosophy and the inherent 
contradiction of the contradictoriness of reason, 
seems due to those habits or modes of thought es- 
sential to all reflection. These antitheses that con- 
sequently arise have been variously designated. 
With the Greeks it seemed to be the contradiction 
of the one and the many, being and knowing ; with 
moderns it may be the problem of identity in dif- 
ference, or, as in natural science, uniformity and 
variation. All anthitheses arise from too skeptical 
a contemplation, with respect to Absolute Idealism, 
of the thing, which suffers change, yet remains self- 
identical. In the history of the mind the puzzle 
has found various solutions. The reconciliation 
has been accomplished in aesthetics by the notion 
of harmony; in psychology, by the conception of 
personality; in natural science, by the doctrine of 
evolution. The habits of the Greek and of the 
modern have been defined as the "instinct for iden- 
tification, or the psychical experience of recogni- 
tion, and the instinct for ascribing causes, due to 
experience of volition — that is, the powers of think- 
ing and willing, which in joint operation constitute 
human efficiency." The primitive mind has not 
been noticed to animate all things with will and 
intention. That is his way of giving freedom to 
the instinct of causal thinking; and the instinct 
for forming definite and responsible estimates of 
the world of things, leads to composite impres- 
sions they call ideas. With the Greek this is a 



108 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

happy congruence, and the supreme instance is 
recognized as the "Platonic philosophy of Ideals 
or ideal forms which are at once the essential 
being anjdi the formative causes of phenomena," 
This is at least suggested by those mythical in- 
terests that make possible the perfection of the 
natural classification of experience. As has been 
observed, the habit an f d method of thinking in 
terms of individuality is a late achievement of man- 
kind. Primitive people had a science, but it is 
called magic, and 'here the formation of the cate- 
gory is already under way. The many practices 
of savages exemplify that belief that "like produces 
like." Sociologists claim "that social pressure 
everywhere results in" what is called "like-minded- 
ness" ; and that in the "formative period of society 
it is essential that individuals should act according 
to common understandings which are the natural 
prelude of law." Atnd it seems that in the natural 
development "The individual who succeeds in most 
widely impressing his personality upon his fellows 
becomes the ethnic ideal or type toward which they 
tend." 

Turning from Egypt, for instance, we look to 
classicism for the happier development. "The clas- 
sic type is not an inanimate, weighted type; its 
very essence is buoyancy and life; it mot only iden- 
tifies Being but it achieves Becoming and is im- 
bued with evolutional vitality." But its keynotes 
are in temperate mastery, universality and Har- 
mony. Exemplified in Plato's Ideas, we for the 
first time have the individuals in the ideal world. 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 109 

"They are universal individuals, personalities, arch- 
ons of the mind; and just as the Homeric Olympus 
is the invisible habitat of Hellenic imagination, so 
is the Platonic Hierarchy of Ideas the full revela- 
tion of the conceptual an'di moral consciousness of 
classic character. " Though no last development of 
personality is yet attained, and the classic ideal 
may defeat by its own perfection; the fullness of 
its realization fixes the limits of evolution. Then 
even its activity may seem like a kind of rest; 
like the "unnioying activity" of Aristotle, it is 
only "unmoving" to the limits of evolution. It 
is contemplative, but contemplation, imitation and 
the logical process of knowing and perceiving, per- 
ception and knowledge, is essentially active. The 
beauty of the Greek temple in its attainment con- 
trasts with the beauty of the Gothic cathedral in 
its aspiration. Classic domination of form and 
thought quickly (degenerates into Procrustean meas- 
urement. Then the stir and tremor of life is not 
evident and the richness of promise is denied. Im- 
perfection is free to aspire, while perfect sesthetical 
taste lives the life. Freedom may mean more to 
imperfect things; and to free desire, far down in 
the sesthetical scale, promise may be sweeter; but 
surely, in the Spirit of Perfect Ethical and Aesthet- 
ical Life, freedom is more enjoyed. 

The human instinct for a freer life seems to be 
the inner form of nature's "irrepressible expan- 
sion." Historical time shows in its devastations 
and wrecks of the Ideal, that no perfection has 
been won except to be destroyed; but then the Ideal 
element has ever revived with new anticipations 



110 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

and new Meals. How long is this conflict between 
nature and the Ideal Life to maintain? The natu- 
ralistic development and conception of ethical life 
vainly tries to make nature a person or deity, and 
then shuts itself out from the Ideal Life. To the 
natural man, according to his interpretation of na- 
ture, new Ideals often seem erratic ; and Truth gets 
branded as a heresy or heretic by those who shut 
their eyes to the light. 

Some may claim an evolution for the Ideal Life 
on the ground that it is a gradual imitation of in- 
telligence and the discernment of nature's secret 
ways to the end that personalities shall be created 
efficient to understand and aid the natural devel- 
opment. Before following out that view exclu- 
sively it had better be taken into account that the 
natural part in the act of creation consists in ful- 
filling certain conditions ; and these conditions have 
to be made anicD established before they can be ful- 
filled. Then the inevitable is confronted with 
Spinoza's conception sometimes recognized as trans- 
cendental, because it culminates rather in a rest 
with the eternal verities, in peaceful accord with 
an immutable Divine Nature; but evolution has to 
substitute an "active, assimilative spiritual life." 

Until the limits of evolution have been trans- 
cended, lack of evidence and consequent lack of 
faith in the co-conscious spiritual life with the 
Eternal, brings up the question of immortality. 
Is there a sufficient warrant to claim that the soul 
must exist forever; and it is confessed that man's 
knowledge is confined to a very brief arc of ex- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 111 

perience with respect to immortality. If he seeks 
knowledge of the Eternal and enters a life of trans- 
cendental experience they call him abnormal, and 
his witness not valid. PerOiaps they themselves 
will yet see and have experience that shall be valu- 
able if they do not seek and find too late, for ad- 
mittance. It can be asserted with evident truth 
that the course of mental life assumes the form of 
eternity. Final Purpose and final Design are the 
supreme facts of a perfect universe. And all parts 
of a perfect Universe exist for the Absolute Per- 
fection. "The mind is the unique embodiment of 
a real perpetuity/' and in all nature the Principle 
of Perfection is the unique exemplar of personality, 
ideal anticipation and immortal hope. 

In the International Journal of Ethics, Hellen 
Bosanquet writes a beautiful and perhaps eternally 
valid thought on the relation of two wills: In the 
old German ideal, "Few saw r what many now 
realize, that the old ideal with all its beauty and 
strength could only be cast down by one still higher 
and more beautiful; that the devotion of woman 
could be greater, not less, when they had richer 
minds and wiser hearts to give; that the noblest 
harmonies of life arise when two disciplined wills 
combine; and that the truest comradeship is found 
when man and woman meet on the common ground 
of mutual intellectual respect. Innumerable happy 
homes bear witness to the truth of this higher 
ideal, and so far the battle has in principle been 
won forever." 



PART V. 

VOLUNTARY CONTROL OF ATTENTION 
AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 

Love among the ruins, for instance, might sug- 
gest love among the roses when two independent 
and disciplined! wills combine. Prof. Hysiop re- 
ports a fact in the observation of after-images and 
allied phenomena. He says he has often experi- 
mented with the after-images in his life. He is 
susceptible to them! and to the observation of them 
when they occur without the effort to produce them. 
He says, "I often notice an after-image of a bright 
object in the field of vision when I am not trying to 
produce it. It of course arrests my attention and 
I immediately turn to observe it. As usual it 
quickly fades. I then try to reproduce the after- 
image by experiment and as generally fail as I try. 
No amount of effort will reproduce it as before. 
I may obtain a faint one, but usually can obtain 
none at all. But the interesting phenomenon in 
connection with the spontaneous after-image that 
arrests my attention is the fact that I have uni- 
formly observed that it occurs only when I am in 
a state of abstraction. Thus if I am looking at 
a lamp or bright ring amd: at the same time not 
thinking of the object on which vision is actually 
fixed, the after-image is almost certain to occur 
with great distinctness if I happen to turn the 



IN THE PERCEPTION OP TRUTH 113 

head to one side and the background is favorable. 
If I try to repeat the after-image by looking pur- 
posely at the light, I utterly fail. The reproduc- 
tion of it seems to be related in some way to the 
connection between fixation and attention. It may 
be Worth studying in this connection the influence 
of attention upon the action of chemical forces on 
the retina. Of course something of this kind may 
already have been 'done, but if so it has not been 
my fortune to see it, as my studies have not enabled 
me to keep abreast with the scientific and physio- 
logical side of the matter. But the phenomena 
whicfh I have just described certainly suggests a 
possible relation between attention and the amount 
of chemical action in the retina." 

"There is another phenomenon which is possibly 
connected with related functions. When mentally 
preoccupied and Waving the eyes fixated on a given 
point or object, I often notice a disappearance of 
a part of the indirect field of vision. I have tried 
to see whether it might not be due to the falling 
of the object on the blind sp'ot, but uniformly dis^- 
cover that it is not, as the disappearing object 
may be on the side of the retina opposite the blind 
spot. On careful experiment and observation I 
find that the disappearance is directly related to 
the degree of abstraction, and that I can repro- 
duce it artificially, if I am successful, as I some- 
times am, in effecting the abstraction necessary 
and at the same time the proper adjustment of at- 
tention. It is difficult to produce the artificial 
abstraction required, but when I am successful 



114 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

I affect the disappearance of the object, which im-> 
mediately reappears: the moment attention is given 
to it without altering the fixation of the eyes. The 
effect seems to be that of making clear an actual 
impression, while attention in the previous experi- 
ment seems to destroy an after-image. Why is 
this the case? I of course have no answer to this 
question. It is simply an interesting phenomenon 
to find the fact, which is apparently the converse 
of the first experience described, In the former 
concentration of attention is conducive to the ap- 
pearance of after-images, and in the latter this con- 
centration tends to extinguish real impressions. 
The latter may be a normal retrecissement du champ 
visuel, but why the former should not also illus- 
trate the same fact is a phenomenon of interest." 

With this Prof. Hysilop tells his story of after- 
images and their relation to attention and abstrac- 
tion; amd suggests a probable relation that they 
may have in the natural visual space perception. 
Dt. Slaughter's method wais to ascertain as nearly 
as possible the "exact behavior of the image dur- 
ing a certain interval of time which , after trial 
was fixed at ten seconds." When figures drawn 
on cards were used as stimuli, the subject was al- 
lowed to fix his gaze on the figure for some indefi- 
nite time. A signal was given to close the eyes, 
and five seconds later by another signal the men- 
tal imagery was to be carefully watched and re- 
membered as to its behavior. Then after ten sec- 
onds of such introspection he recorded the results. 

In experiments with after-images I have ob- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 115 

served much of the phenomena referred to by Hy- 
slop, and also quite a variety of mental imagery 
in connection with dream life. This mental image 
visualization is often intensely vivid in light, form 
and color, with changes and motion according to 
certain laws of logic in thought and reflection, just 
while waking to the customary mode or type of 
consciousness. These experiences are often highly 
aesthetic and spiritually significant in a sense of 
the relation with the Absolute and religious con- 
ceptions, as well as Ideal social relations in an 
Ideal environment. 

[With dlefinite and intentional experiments, I 
have noticed that after-images from objective light 
prevent the ready visualizing of imagination images 
until the effect of the negative after - image, 
w^hich is usually a variety of color changes from 
one to the other in complements — has quite dis- 
appeared. Then the imagination is more active in 
effecting a visualization of an image. It is often 
very difficult to control the form of an image of 
the imagination. Rich colors appear very readily 
and easily without definite form. Mathematical 
and geometric forms and figures appear compara- 
tively readily. When these mental images occur 
spontaneously they have clearly defined artistic 
and finely aesthetic forms and relations. 

One who is willing to be just a receptacle to his 
mental and spiritual environment, cultivates a 
habit by which he is probably like the vase to which 
the scent of the roses clings. If one wants to be a 
receiver of mental anid spiritual life, a strong elec- 



116 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

tive will is essential or he would be subject to the 
influences of an evil environment as well as a goo<? 
one. Strong moral will and determination fixed 
by the perception of the Ideal of Absolute Perfec- 
tion and harmony of Being, to prevent the person- 
ality from radiating or exhaling, as it were, a dis- 
cordant influence that is liable to cling to the atti- 
tude that has largely been formed by the perversely 
willful initiative of moral condition in social life, 
is essential. Whether it be a familiar organism or 
a more complex institution of a social organization : 

"Mortal sins thou goest out to battle, 

Monsters shapen out of thine own breath, 
Traitorous senses, oh, the very clay 

Thou art made of ! Fight them; to the death, 
For the Lord thy God is with thee in this day !" 

And in Judgment : 

"Seekest thou thy Judge's countenance, 

Bending above thee by one wistful glance; 

For awe-struck dost thou scan a mystery 
Which all thy earthly years revealed not. 

At last, at last, thine own soul dost thou see; 
Thy fate, our world, and time, thou hast forgot !" 

If one were crossing the river and perhaps medi- 
tating with a far-away look; and the Other with 
fine appearance and with an expression of rather 
unusual intelligence were sitting directly across 
the isle; then suddenly leaning forward and look- 
ing straight into the eye, should he hesitate to 
meet her steady gaze, she might modestly beckon 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 117 

her intent. Then with common assent their wills 
seem to blend : "Shall we meet beyond! the river. " 
This is a phenomena of peculiar significance. At 
this juncture of wills there is a certain type of 
experience recognizable by acute spiritual discern- 
ment. It may result, in a kind of tugging of one 
will at the other until the one or the other is sub- 
mitted or both blend in a common Ideal. For the 
Individual to recognize this immediately and 
quickly flash a thought before the inspiration has 
time to vanish, is incumbent lest the ideal be ex- 
cluded from consciousness, and the full meaning 
of its actualization, that may dawn upon the hori- 
zon of vision later in life — missed. When the 
activity of the mind) is quick enough to participate 
logically in the order of transcendental experience, 
the Other may recognize the thought immediately 
and show assent and complete satisfaction with 
the ideal. But the Individual has to depend upon 
a sign that is recognized and logically interpreted, 
for he has no other way of knowing. The Ideal 
that is known and perceived must always be the 
best possible with existing circumstances anjdl 
memory associations, for the results to be perfect 
and anything like complete, that the Ideal may be 
reciprocally agreed upon with the liberty of indi- 
vidual conception. These Ideals always ought to 
have a double aspect to give the opportunity for 
the construction of the aesthetic imagination. 

In times of severe conflict in the Individual life, 
like one lost in a wilderness of too savage social 
environment; happy is the one who can take the 



118 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

wings of light and rise into the strata of a more 
ethereal realm) and look down upon them and 
say, "Peace be unto thee." When red and black 
devils with horns and clownish style fail in their 
devastating and destructive work, the Ideal may 
appear in filmy presence of a projected image; for 
instance, as the like of a man with a trumpet, and 
then the appearance of a shepherd with his simple 
life of charity; until through various aesthetic 
changes one comes to the permanent perception of 
a recognized Ideal over which there is no control : 
perhaps a fine well (dressed figure of a great general 
of indomitable will and prevailing purpose, posing 
serenely in a beautiful environment of color and 
form and life. But when there is a desire to pos- 
sess, the coveted Ideal of fancy is rolled up like a 
scroll and the owner jealously declares!: "No, this 
you may not have; it is a film of an olive and 
priceless tone." 

Though we may explore other worlds than the 
one in which man lives, and fight the monsters of 
ignorance with the instruments of science; and 
though we may enter the ideal realm of rare and 
transcendent beauty, of peace and the life of a 
free mind and spirit, where ignorance is banished 
and the lower nature is completely subordinate to 
the higher life of the Ideal ; though one may wish 
that he were born a thousand years later, or an- 
other that he had never lived at all, since life 
in itself is so unsatisfying; though a mixture of 
philosophical and metaphysical thoughts may trou- 
ble the simple easy faith of a too credulous reli- 



INI THE PERCEPTION OF TEUTH 119 

gious consciousness ; there is an element of the ra- 
tional life that invariably appeals to the Univer- 
sal Consciousness of a Self-conscious Spirit. The 
perfume of a flower, or the sighing of tlhe wind, 
might suggest thoughts of harmony and song; even 
a full and crescent satellite may recall associa- 
tions and thoughts of love and a broken heart, 
like a monument throughout eternity; making ex- 
istence sad and memory the cause of sorrow from 
most beautiful melodies, and of pain from most 
beautiful visions. Love that makes one miserably 
restless by its presence, and still more miserable 
when it is gone — what is to become of philosophical 
rules and mathematical formulae? Had one not 
better remained in love with science? Who studies 
nature in the right spirit as the ways of God in 
a world of form, is not dependent for joy or des- 
pair on the changing whims of a sentiment. In 
a paradise of the Imagination, creative spirits may 
play upon the breath of an Aeolian harp, until 
you have heard their presence and understand! their 
language — "You ought to be happy." Happiness 
would be an attribute of human life if all were 
known, and the conception of life were not too 
much mixed up with the cares of the world. If 
happiness were that state in w r hich desires were 
satisfied, some might claim happiness;; but there 
is no proof that happiness can consist in the sat- 
isfaction of desire. It may at least be said that 
desire must coincide with duty. One of the truest 
joys has been shown to be self-sacrifice for others, 
and the highest joy is the Presence and Love of 



120 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the Eternal. The world of tlbe one whose affection 
is centered on finite existence may be inevitably 
separate from reality and. invisible to the one who 
is diseerner of hearts, but no reality is outside 
the sphere of knowledge. And unless the illusion 
produced by crystal vision is valid evidence of 
the unseen the world of spirits is invisible to the 
natural eye. To one accustomed to the grandest 
Idea and the dignity of Life, the Ideal World may 
present a phase for the understanding, that is never 
obscure or held in question, but opens up the way 
to a larger spOhere of Beality, that goes without 
demonstration or proof. Yet to those who have 
little or no spiritual discernment of spiritual 
things, and no experience with which to draw a 
contrast and be able to recognize the principle of 
likeness or difference, it may be as hard to die- 
scribe the transcendent element of other worlds, 
as it would be to picture the glories of a dawn or 
the aesthetic significance of a sunset to a blind 
man. Instead of seeing what really is, the natural 
eye sees but a diminutive part. Through the fun- 
damental laws of nature tlhiere is a Principle that 
does not change, and though it be Absolute it is 
a mistake to apply earthly logic to Heavenly things. 
It were better to apply the knowledge of the trans- 
cendent, to the discernment of meanings in rela- 
tions with the natural; with the prophetic insight 
and hope that the laws of the Eternal may become 
the laws of the finite minidl. A journey in other 
worlds accomplished by the activity of the intel- 
lect with a logical series of events in the realm of 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 121 

pure activity aided by the free imagination, is 
gleaming bright with suggestiveness representing 
some remarkable plays of the imagination and 
imaginary experiences that show some alliance 
with scientific facts and observations. However 
sparkling these phenomena of the more or less 
transcendental world may seem, as long as there 
are historical interests and pleasant associations 
in the actual life of the Social Consciousness, the 
mind does not like to stay too long in the rare 
atmosphere of the Ideal World. But establishing 
a connection there it seeks a life of service of the 
highest possible value for the advancement of hu- 
man conditions; and as normal Beings we all once 
more, after having perceived! the Ideal in some de- 
gree and learned something of it)s nature, seek 
henceforth the actualization in Real Life. 

One of these ways has been a comparative view 
of scientists and philosophers with special atten- 
tion to the use of imagination in religious ex- 
perience. So long as man is human and has hu- 
man limitations and senses, he feels the need of 
a house to dwell in. His temple of science may 
be shaken to its foundations, but it nevertheless 
has its fundamental laws and principles of con- 
struction. Until the searing winds of criticism have 
spent their fury, and hostile elements over which 
he has no control beat in from above, there is need 
of walls and a roof and withall a foundation ; lest 
the structure should) sink into the sands of des- 
pair. The walls might be made of paper when the 
means of materialistic sentiment are spent; the 



122 LOGIO AND IMAGINATION 

foundations, of knowledge; yet the roof has to be 
supported by vast columns and pillars. And these 
may not lack beauty. They may be beautiful for 
strength, and on top of the pillars may be lily work. 
Religion and science both attempt to explain the 
phenomena of the world and of life. This they have 
in common, though they differ in that it is a sec- 
ondary object for religion and a primary object 
for science. Religion recognizes, seeks to enter into 
right relationis with, gain the favor of, and secure 
the aid of, the Divine. It sees signs and types of 
the Divine in man amdi the world. They began 
by ascribing all phenomena to the direct acts of 
Deity. Rain, drought, sunshine, cloud, wind, thun- 
der, lightning, earthquake and eclipse, w^ere con- 
ceived of as expressions of divine displeasure or 
pleasure in the fortunes of life. Life seemed like 
a system of rewards and punishments according as 
man was obedient or disobedient to the superhu- 
man power that shaped his destiny. The creation 
of the world or the extinction of a nation, the blade 
of grass or a bodily pain, were the imimediate acts 
of a god standing outside of and above human 
thought and effort. In the life of the race as well 
as the individual, true religious conceptions, simple 
though they be, come before the conceptions of 
science. With the conceptions of a genuine science, 
the transformation of the religious attitude into 
a spiritual life is effected. The scientific impulse 
may have coexisted with the religious, but demand- 
ing more exact observation its appearance was 
slower. When facts were observed) in their con- 



INi THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 123 

nections, sequences established, and a hypothetical 
faith validated by evidence; then belief in an or- 
derly cosmos came to life, and laid the foundations 
of civilization and of spiritual religion. The world 
was given over to man for conquest and study, and 
he was even intrusted with the care of his own 
heart, to fashion it according to the diemands of 
conscience. In the sphere of conscience and the 
spiritual life he did not feel as if he stood alone. 
The conviction gained strength by degrees, that the 
divine influence was in the spiritual sphere, caus- 
ing harmony to prevail with the divine spirit and 
disciplining the heart of man into purity. This was 
a period of scientific training, and the Idea of God 
was constantly advancing. It rose from the war- 
rior or demon of earliest time to the vast and trans- 
forming contrast of the spirit of Justice and Love. 
All moral and religious life has been summed up 
in the word of Love to God and man. When such 
principles were announced and accepted, society 
assumed a new form. The shapeless came to be 
organized and regulated; and what was a dim long- 
ing is a definite impulse. Life approaches nearer 
to unity and there is more harmony between mind 
and soul. There is a sense of the removal of 
weighty traditions, and there is a greater freedom 
of activity in thought and feeling. The -connection 
with the past was not destroyed ; past and present 
were renewed into a higher life. 

It may be the unconscious influence of one com- 
munity on another, that has the greater and) deeper 
authority for a time. Ideas represented by cu^ 






124 LOGIO AND IMAGINATION 

toms and expressions attach! to others and com- 
mend themselves for their naturalness and prac- 
tical capacity to satisfy a feeling of need. Per- 
haps first adopted by advanced thinkers and pro- 
pagated in the lower strata of society ; or they may 
receive for a long time no definite expression. 
Without expression, because there is none to per- 
ceive, they are simply in the air. Critics in con- 
trast with them without perceiving their meaning, 
would dispose of them and turn again and rend 
the giver. Though pearls are not cast to carnal 
minds, silently they make themselves known by 
some mystical presence, and from generation to 
generation they color and icontrol ideas, opinions 
and customs. Finally they find expression in 
books; they are accepted as something quite nat- 
ural, and the religious mind wakes up to find itself 
in possession of thoughts and conceptions unknown 
to the fathers ; and the traditional mind is no longer 
able to trace their genesis and authority. Then 
comes a period of reflection that seeks to establish 
a logical relation between the past and the present. 
They think they find a trace of the new ideas in an- 
cient customs and writings. They attemlpt to follow 
the mirage back in an unbroken line, and the silent 
influences that produced them pass out of memory 
and they rest unrecorded). The Persian and the Greek 
have had no little influence on Jewish history. And 
the apostle's polemic against the worldly wisdom of 
the Persian and the Greek has had no little influence. 
Greek philosophy naturally lealdls him to identify 
the only true and saving divine wisdom with the 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 125 

glorified Messiah, through whom redemption came 
to men as God ordained. The word is strongly 
personified, and even the wisdom of Solomon did 
not advance beyond personification in representing 
the word! as the instrument of creation. Activity 
and efficiency are variously ascribed to the Word 
of God. Human life is controlled. The Logos is 
sent on a mission of healing; and the Logos is the 
agent of Creation. For the Jews the conception 
of the Logos was not a fruitful one; it was too 
forced and strained by their strict monotheism^ 

! They regarded the Logos in too materialistic a way 
of anthropomorphic relations and definitions, limit- 
ing their conception to the whims of human senti- 

; men't and fancy ; the rewarder of Israel, and the 
source of prophetic inspiration, but not an angel 
or the Messiah, yet a representative of the imme- 
diate divine activity. The conception of the Logos 
did not keep its hold on Jewish thought, but main- 
tained itself in Christianity. 

In the contrast of the Spirit of Christianity with 
the spirit of Judaism, the apostle recognized that 

j there are deeds of the body not justified in the light 

i of the Ideal ; then gave the injunction, "If by the 
spirit you kill the deeds of the body you shall live." 
Thus a transformation is effected in human nature 
without a change of essence. The apostle was 

; speaking of the Wisdom of God as contrasted with 
human science and philosophy, declaring that the 
knowledge of Divine Truth comes not by reflection 

I alone, but also by faith, rather by the coactivity of 

| belief and certitude in the rational faith and pro- 



126 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

phetic insight of reflection. Then it is a revelation 
of the Divine Spirit. "The psychical man does not 
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are 
foolishness to him; and he cannot know them be- 
cause they are pneumatically discerned, but the 
pneumatical man judges all things." It seems to be 
a moral-religious distinction the apostle had in 
mind. Adam's soul was capable of becoming spirit, 
since he was the type of the natural man. Christ's 
soul is Spirit. He was and is and is to be the Ideal- 
real of the religious and spiritual Consciousness. 
"In him was life and the life was the light of men." 
It m by the attractive power of the Ideal they enter 
the Kealm of the Ideal. It is only by Divine choice 
and drawing power that men can detach themselves 
from the "mass of the world" and come to Christ. 
The religious conception everywhere shows the an- 
tithesis of power and impotency. The futility of 
man's efforts to achieve perfect righteousness is 
represented by a profound religious nature, passion- 
ately devoted to his Ideal of perfectness and keenly 
introspective. By his experience he was led to re- 
ject the possibility of getting a righteous satisfac- 
tion from simple obedience to an external law. He 
had to have an inner experience of the law written 
on pages of the heart. The conception of righteous- 
ness shows a radical change in the process of jus- 
tification to the life of sanctification or saintly ex- 
perience of the higher life. Though he was a man 
combining in thought spiritual depth and mystical 
school-logic in such a manner that it was scarcely 
possible to estimate the bearing and influence of 



INI THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 127 

his ideas ; yet, when face to face with ultimate real- 
ities of the Spiritual type he recognized the need of 
a Law of Reason by which the operations of the 
mind correspond with those spiritual Realities in a 
degree of Absolute Knowledge, Love and Wisdom. 
The Light of Truth dawning upon consciousness, 
with a validity of its own as justified at the scepter 
of Divine Reason and in all the minor activities of 
the educated mind, flashes the authority of judg- 
ment and conviction. And the true Christian of the 
present who represents a certain type of religious 

I genius, eccentric to the unconverted type who might 
sneeringly refer to him as a Pauline example — 

; might truthfully say, "Go a little further back in 

I your retrospection until you find Christ, then you 
may know me as I am." 

An intuition described as a revelation is. probably 
more than a mere intuition. How Paul came to his 
special view it is not possible to say with definite- 
ness. It might have been an intuition, but he de- 
scribes it as a revelation. Whether it was an idea 
that sprung up in his soul out of the mass of things 
he had been brooding over, or a revelation ; never- 

\ theless he found unity, order, light, where to him 
all had been darkness and chaos. The spiritual 
insight into the prophetic vision of the martyr may 

~< have led him to connect salvation with Messianic 
righteousness. His exalted conception of the Mes- 

; siah's nature and function seems to have been per- 
fect in connection with, his acceptation of Jesus as 

i the Christ; this acceptation was brought about, 
however, by the transcendental experience he had 



128 LOGIO AND IMAGINATION 

with the presence of the Christ Ideal. Paul accept- 
ing him as the risen and glorified Lord, could no 
longer "rest in the early Church's limited and un- 
defined idea of the Messiah's moral-spiritual func- 
tions." In his wider vision he could not restrict 
salvation to a political deliverance of the nation, 
or to a vague happiness at Christ's second coming. 
He looked for a speedy fulfilment of the promised 
return or reappearance, but realized the need of a 
present deliverance. "His moral consciousness as- 
sured him that the Messiah had achieved absolute 
deliverance from the burden of sin." This he held 
forth as the only true deliverance. This God had 
offered as He alone could. He idealized Jesus as 
perfect. And "His perfect righteousness offered 
man that Ideal perfectness without which the 
awakened conscience could not be satisfied." In de- 
scribing the difference between Paul's teaching and 
the teaching of Jesus, Prof. Toy writes, "We may 
sum up Paul's doctrine of saving righteousness as 
follows: its legal condition is the sacrificial death 
of Jesus Christ ; its ethical content is the personal 
righteousness of Christ; its source is the power of 
the living, glorified Christ committed to him by God 
and exercised through the spirit ; its human condi- 
tion is the humble and grateful recognition of Jesus 
as the perfect ideal, through whose presence the soul 
is transformed. Thus we may see the difference be- 
tween Paul's teaching and that of Jesus: for the 
latter, the ideal is God ; for the former, Jesus as the 
glorified son of God. The latter accepts man's per- 
sonal righteousness, only purified by spirituality; 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TEUTH 129 

the former rejects human righteousness, which 
seems to him necessarily impure, and substitutes 
for it perfect righteousness! of the Christ, with the 
condition that the soul in the act of believing is 
quickened into free, ethical activity. Jesus thinks 
of an inward transformation wrought by the com- 
munion between man's will and God's; Paul de- 
mands a new divine creation. Jesus brings the 
soul face to face with God ; Paul interposes the per- 
son of the Christ as reconciler." 

The Jewish-Alexandrian philosophy made the 
Logos the center and explanation of the world ; and 
there was a corresponding conception of righteous- 
ness. This conception of the perfection of the spir- 
itual content of personality connects itself with the 
world view, where the Logos is central and explana- 
tory as in the prologue to the Fourth Gospel. "The 
world has been created through the divine Word: 
yet it lay in darkness, the darkness of sin, the origin 
of which is not explained. The world was his own, 
yet it knew him not. The reign of the Jewish Law 
belonged also to the period of darkness; the dark- 
ness was dispelled by the manifestation of grace and 
truth through Jesus Christ, in whom was the mani- 
festation of God! himiself . The divine influence af- 
fects the individual soul. No process of moral re- 
generation is described; there is a new spiritual 
creation parallel to the physical creation in the be- 
ginning. At a moment in the past God through the 
Word had called the world into being ; now, at the 
appointed time (after ages of unexplained darkness 
and doubt) , the Word had appeared in human form, 



130 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

bringing divine light and eternal life. Every ves- 
tige of nationalism has here disappeared; the rela- 
tions of God are primarily not with the Jews, but 
with humanity." The author of the Fourth Gospel 
sees in the moral-spiritual history of the world, the 
divine creative activity. The thought of Jesus, that 
human perfection is in constant communion with 
the divine Father, is expressed substantially, though 
clothed in the form of the Jewish-Alexandrian 
philosophy. The interplay of three conceptions is 
involved in the New Testament history of the idea 
of righteousness : "The Old Testament idea of per- 
sonal goodness, Paul's scholastic scheme of imputed 
righteousness, and the transformation of the soul 
by the union with Christ or by the direct power of 
the Holy Spirit." Though the Pauline idea of im- 
putation, devised by a logical mind to meet a spe- 
cific Jewish objection, faded away with the crisis 
that gave it birth, the universal appeal of all the 
New Testament writers is to the consciousness 
and the will of man, whatever particular scheme 
of salvation may be emphasized. It has been recog- 
nized that the Sermon on the Mount and other say- 
ings of Jesus contain a certain higher something, 
a completer recognition of the inner element of 
goodness and the positive side of individual obliga- 
tion; the exhortation to let one's light shine, and 
not to limit the Self to passive endurance of wrong, 
or to dependence on charity, but to recognize the 
fact that each one is to be a guide to his fellows, 
and must so purify himself in nobility of character 
that he shall lead not into error, but into truth. 



LN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 131 

Here are gathered up the elements of the highest 
ethical character — perfect self-mastery, enlightened 
self-help, and complete sympathy with human en- 
vironment. The substance of those precepts may 
have been given before, but nowhere has it been 
found with equal fulness, and symmetry. The ethico- 
spiritual insight of Jesus took hold of the high- 
est essentials in the government of man's moral na- 
ture. The religious experience is necessarily onto- 
logical and as in this supreme type it plainly has to 
do with knowledge and belief that is real existence 
and operative in actual events. Though all reality 
of the ethical and spiritual life consists in rational 
and constructive mind, there is something far more 
than the imagining and reasoning activity of the 
human mind in the conception of reality influencing 
religious thought and experience. 

Something permanent and Universal in the con- 
stitution of the human mind reacts on the social 
environment and gives the initiative and guidance 
to the constructive activity of the religious use of 
the image-making faculty ; yet so intimately related 
with the self-conscious identity of personal will, 
that "The human mind inevitably regards the con- 
structs of its own imagination and intellect as sig- 
nificant and trustworthy representations of the be- 
ings and events of the objective and real World, 
whenever such constructs seem necessary for a 
satisfactory explanation of experience." The 
Ideal of personality has partaken of the nature 
that has characterized the reality of the finite 
person; and this Ideal has kept far in advance 



132 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of the reality where it has become known in 
form by immediate experience with itself. Thus 
the Infinite and Absolute, ethically perfect and 
Sublime Self, is far superior to human personality ; 
£ven when compared with the improved and spe- 
cially refined personal being of spiritualized man. 
Man's ability to represent the Infinite and Absolute 
Self in any worthy manner whatever is due to the 
real fact that the Absolute Self is making man more 
and more like his own Self. The correlate of the 
developing power of man to conceive of God m the 
principle of the progressive self-revelation of God. 
Religion is essentially a relation between persons; 
whether it be the low manifestations of the religious 
instinct in the relation of the invisible spirits of 
savages, superhuman to his own savage spirit — or 
in the higher element of the spiritual religion of 
Truth. The intellectual, ethical, and aesthetical 
emotions in the religious and personal being of man, 
evidence the presence of the Infinite and Absolute 
ethical Spirit acting in perfection under the condi- 
tions of time and sense. The activities of imagina- 
tion and intellect under the conditional modes of 
the mind's functioning are not essentially unlike in 
science and religion. They are operations, how- 
ever, in different spheres of activity. "In the higher 
and the highest forms of religion," it is said, "the 
Ideal takes up into itself all the most significant 
factors of all the Ideals. God is conceived of as the 
ethical, aesthetical, and social, Ideal One ; He is the 
One and Alone Ideal-Real, the summing up of all 
human ideals in reality." This conception on ac- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 133 

count of its nature and intrinsic value is an object 
for rational faith rather than knowledge, except in 
the Divine sense of that term defining the reality of 
Ideas by knowledge. Whether on logically valid or 
invalid grounds it does not necessarily concern one 
to inquire; this Being of the World is "conceived 
of as infinite and perfect Ethical Spirit, the Soul's 
Father and redeemer, and the all-wise and good 
Creator of the Universe, then adoration, ethical 
love, and submission of will are the dominant fac- 
tors in the mental attitude awakened. But this is 
the attitude of filial piety, of faith in a person, 
rather than of scientific or reasoned cognition of a 
system of forces and laws." 

It seems that no finer expression of the concep- 
tion and nature of Truth can be made than par- 
ticipation in the Divine Reason. Plotinius once 
expressed his conception of the nature of a beau- 
tiful object, by saying that "A beautiful material 
thing is produced by participation in reason issu- 
ing from the Divine." Some mental attitudes to- 
ward the Beautiful have a certain close resemblance 
to the mind's attitude toward the Object of re- 
ligious faith. There may be irreligious ideas an'cfc 
conduct, false claims and fanaticism, that encour- 
age immorality and failure to reach the true Object 
of religious faith, and these "lie in waiting at the 
door of every attempt, even partially, to identify 
the psychological sources and the ultimate ideals 
of art and religion." Nevertheless the facts of ex- 
perience are not to be altered, and they need not 
be repressed or curtailed! to satisfy the conscience 



134 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of some inartistic souls. One of high authority 
illustrated the fact by saying that no one lightefth 
a candle and hideth it, but placeth it on a candle- 
stick and it giveth light to all in the room. 

"Ratioeinaition is not the only path to truth ; nor 
are logical formulas the only means for certifying 
truth to the individual human soul." If art were 
simply imitation of Reality — as Plato seemed to 
claim, and Kant came near following, but Hegel 
in principle distinctly denied, then the relations 
of art and religion would not appear to have the 
same significance and worth, Plato is not exactly 
consistent on this point, and there is a great quasi- 
religious truth that even Kant's extreme subjective 
idealism had to confess to the extent of emphasiz- 
ing. It is the view reconciling what appeared to 
him as the "antinomy of the judgments of taste. " 
In the solution is asserted, "The transcendental 
rational concept of the supersensible, which lies 
at the basis of all sensible intuition/' is a kind of 
concept "undetermined and undeterminable." It 
is beyond the definite circumscription of any theory 
and cannot be adequately exhibited to sense. It 
is here the key to the connection between art and 
religion is to be found. And aesthetical philosophy 
reveals the secret truth of this "Supersensible." 
Prof. Ladd describes its concept as "The Ideal of 
a transcendentally perfect Personal Life." And) 
this is the same as the concept defining the Ideal 
Object of religious faith and worship. The only 
satisfactory answer to Kant's question as to the 
possibility of synthetic judgments of taste, is per- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 135 

haps a kind of mystical experience of the "human 
spirit with a boundless Spiritual Life, whose 
Reality is felt with a sympathetic joy, but is not 
capable of mathematical demonstration or of scien- 
tific discovery and testing/' It is in the idea of 
life and its diverse individual and social manifes- 
tations, where the Unity of aesthetics, morality and) 
religion may become perceptible to the seeking 
mind and spirit. And Schiller affirms in his "Philo- 
sophical Letters" : that "The Divinity is already 
very near to that man wlio has succeeded in col- 
lecting all beauty, all greatness, all excellence, in 
both the small and great of Nature, and in evolving 
from this manifoldness the great Unity." 

For convenience we will have to call these ulti- 
mate realities of the transcendental concept, which 
the human mind is not capable of getting around 
in such a way as to explain or account for its own 
logical activity in theorizing from a humanistic 
point of view, yet is compelled to recognize them 
as most real of all facts — we shall call these "intui- 
tions" though I think they are an activity of Rea- 
son too fine and subtle for the human heart and 
mind to perceive as a logical process. The "intui- 
tions" of art and religion have important and sig- 
nificant characteristics in common, as Prof. Ladd 
has well defined the complex attitudes of the hu- 
man mind toward its object: (1) "This mental 
attitude is largely one of the will (he that wills 
to know shall know, was the profoundly true 
promise of the founder of Christianity) ; (2) this 
mental attitude involves appreciations of value 



136 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

that, when reached, are not m|ainly dependent for 
their validity upon the testimony of the senses or 
upon the conclusions of a logical chain of reason- 
ing; (3) nevertheless, it operates to produce the 
conviction of a reality and universal worth as be- 
longing, somehow, to the mind's ideal; and (4) it 
seemis itself to be a sort of envisagement of the ob- 
ject, which makes the conviction reasonable for 
the individual, if not for others also." It has long 
been maintained that there is nothing among visi- 
ble forms that does not signify something Ideal and 
spiritual. In the highest and most satisfying re- 
ligious expressions there are "important and prec- 
ious truths of experience with a living Reality" put 
in the forms of symbols and figures of speech. It 
is for the reflective thinking of mankind to strive 
for a clearer and fuller conceptual wisdlom and 
knowledge of the meaning of its own terms; that 
the understanding may be forever rendered in a 
completer and richer comnnunion of man's life with 
the perfect Ideal Life of God. When art and re- 
ligion clearly recognize and faithfully follow their 
purest and highest ideals, they are prepared to 
unite in the service of that significant beauty of 
the highest aesthetiical and purest religious feel- 
ing, whose source and inspiration is in the "con- 
ception of an Mteally Perfect Personal Life — in- 
dwelling in, uplifting, and redeeming all things and 
all souls." 

Art and religion both seek to present certain 
great truths of the Ultimate Reality — the One 
Great Reality. 



PART VI. 

THE RELATION OF ART AND RELIGION TO 

IDEALS. 

If the statement made by a philosophical theo- 
logian, is true, when offering a suggestion as to 
the origin and nature of Ideals — "Religion lies at 
the basis of all Ideals," then art may be said to 
glorify them. There is a relation between thought 
and feeling, feeling and perception; and many of 
Plato's myths are an extraordinary, fine type of 
a transcendental feeling of the mind after truth. 
It is a feeling that appears in the ordinary "time- 
marking," "object - distinguishing" consciousness; 
though its Origin is not there in a sense that any 
searching it out shall find. It may be traced to 
the influence on consciousness of the presence in 
that element of the Soul, which in timeless sleep 
holds on to Life as worth living ; yet transcendental 
feeling is at the same instant the solemn sense of 
Timeless Being — that is then, now and forever 
overshadowing the finite spirit — and the sure con- 
viction that life is good. The first mientioned phase of 
transcendental feeling appears in man. as a clearly 
defined ecstatic state, though it is called an abnor- 
mal experience of his conscious life; the other, "the 
conviction that Life is good" is regarded in the ex- 
perience of conscious life, because it is not occasion- 
ally springing up alongside of the other experiences, 



138 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

but a feeling that accompanies all right actions 
and experiences of conscious life, — yXvxeia tXTtis, 
that sweet hope, as the Greek would say, in the 
strength of which we take the trouble to seek after 
the particular achievements that make up the wide- 
awake life of conduct and science. It is a normal 
feeling that may be rightly called transcendental, 
because it is not one of the effects, but the condi- 
tion entering upon and continuing in that course 
of endeavor that constitutes experience. 

In the life of conduct and science, Understandi- 
ing, when left to itself, claims to be the measure 
of truth. Transcendental feeling whispers to the 
Understanding and Sense type of self - conscious- 
ness, that they are leaving out the secret plan of 
the Universe; it may comprehend it in silence as 
it is, but can explain it to the Understanding only 
in the symbolical language of Imagination, the in- 
terpreter in vision. 

The Platonic myth intimates the vast drama of 
the creation and the consummation of all things. 
The habitudes and faculties of the moral and intel- 
lectual nature, that constitute and determine a 
priori the experiences and doings in the wide-awake 
life, are themselves clearly seen to be determined 
by causes that are also clearly seen to be deter- 
mined by the Plan of the Universe the Vision re- 
veals. The Universe planned as the vision shows 
is the work of a wise and Good God. 

When imaginative solutions of the so - called 
"problem of the Universe" are thought to be as 
inferior to conceptual solutions, as imaginative so- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 139 

lutions of departmental problems are to the con- 
ceptual; there is a fallacy in the statement of the 
analogy. It cannot be shown that there is a prob- 
lem of the Universe. This problem has been solved 
at the moment Life began. The imaginative rep- 
resentation of the Ideas of the Reason, and the 
imaginative deduction of the categories of the Un- 
derstanding and Moral Virtues, awakens and regu- 
lates Transcendental Feeling. Though Ideas of 
the Reason are aims, aspirations, Ideals; have they 
not an adequate object in possible experience real- 
ized in the other that is constantly sought for and 
united in the seeking personal consciousness when 
known, however experienced? This does not need 
to be regarded as a cushion for the lazy intellect; 
but when this unity of perfection is resumed by the 
active mentality, y it is the Idea around which all 
the thinking and conceptions of the Personality 
centers. It is the way and the life of a higher 
unity even in the harmlonious activity of True 
Being. 

In Kant's well known remark : "The light dove, 
in free flight cleaving the air and feeling its resist- 
ance, might imagine that in airless space she would 
fare better. Even so Plato left the world of sense, 
because it sets so narrow limits to the understand- 
ing, and ventured on the wings of the Ideas"; 
Kant thinks Plato made no headway. The analogy, 
scarcely holds. The laws and elements or avenues 
of the Spirit are different from those of gravitation. 
In drawing such an inference, Kant shows his crude 
conception of the Self. And in the ideal world 



140 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of myth, Lucifer is a typical term for Newton's 
law of gravitation. For Plato and D'ante there 
were conceptions 1 that correspond to the scientific 
discoveries with liquefied air. Plato moved in the 
aesthetic realm of the Ideas, wihile Dante's poetic 
experiences represent imaginary struggles of hu- 
man life and conceptions in changed conditions of 
Universal relations. "Given a sufficient altitude 
aether will take the place of air, and beneath aether, 
air Will be as water." There is also a scientific 
analogy with Plato in the comparison of the aethe- 
real inhabitants and the "poor frogs" dow r n in the 
mists beside the waters of the hollow. Plato is 
at his highest when philosophy and poetry together 
are blended. If moral responsibility cannot be 
explained, it can be pictured. The difference be- 
tween an allegory and a myth is in the character- 
istic nature of thought that takes form by a care- 
ful logical process, and thought that seems to jump 
instantaneously and coextensively into form. In 
the one thought is grasped first and alone, then 
arranged in a particular dress ; in the other thought 
and form seem to come into being together. Dr. 
Westcott, regarding the allegorical teaching and 
the myths of Plato, asserts : "The thought is a vital 
principle which shapes the form ; the form is the 
sensible image which displays the thought. The 
allegory is the conscious work of an individual 
fashioning the image of a truth which he has 
seized. The myth is the unconscious growth of a 
comimon mind, which witnesses to the fundamental 
laws by which its development is ruled. The mean- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 141 

ing of an allegory is prior to the construction of 
the story; the meaning of a myth is first capable 
of being separated from the expression of an age 
long after that in which it has its origin." Alle- 
gories, written as allegories, present doctrine often 
thinly disguised; but their writers had to exercise 
creative imagination, as well as scholastic inge- 
nuity. There are tests that sfhow certain identi- 
ties between allegories and myths. As the test of 
literary success is in the reading, they must appeal 
to the human understanding, announcing clear, 
sound doctrine; as well as providing a good myth 
or story for those who do not understand or care 
for the allegory as a vehicle of doctrine. Hence 
the value of pictures with the pen or with the 
brush tOiat reflect experience, and stand as images 
or doubles in another world. 

Symbolic representation can be formed as a habit, 
and it is one of the most primitive and persistent 
tendencies of human nature. It was present in 
the first efforts of language, in the highest con- 
ceptions pictured' by the religious imagination, and 
in the highest flights of philosophy. Science also 
is dependent on its development and use. Without 
the education or presence of the image or myth- 
nuaking faculty in another sense there could have 
been no poetry. The primrose would never have 
been more than the "yellow primrose" ; and per- 
haps, without courtesy of manners, " everybody 
would always have called a spade a spade." They 
would all have stuck in the bare world of sensa- 
tion, weltering either in sense pleasure or pain. 



142 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

It is a characteristic of a certain type of religious 
belief, that "Reason" has to be raised by the 
"mighty force of the Divine Spirit into a converse 
with the Deity, with God*"; and that it is then 
"turned into sense." Science might well agree that 
what is by faith built on sure principles, in the 
eternal now becomes vision. It was the message 
of a great scientifically constructive genius, that 
"God is a being, Eternal, Infinite, Absolutely Per- 
fect. * * * He governs all things, and knows 
all things which are done, or which can be done. 
He is not Eternity and Infinity, but He is Eternal 
and Infinite; He is not Duration and Space, but 
He endures and is Present. He endures and is 
present everywhere; and by existing always and 
everywhere, He constitutes Duration and Space, 
Eternity and Infinity." 

The central doctrine of the Cambridge Platonists 
has been defined by the "Doctrine of Ideas as pre- 
sented in the Phsedrus Myth — that is, presented to 
religious feeling as theory of the union of man with 
God in knowledge and conduct." Moreover, "Sen- 
sible things which come into existence and perish, 
are but reflections, images, ectypes, of Eternal Es- 
sences, Archetypal Forms, or Ideas." With this we 
are face to face with the entire question of Space 
perception and conception in the practical experi- 
ence of a Self-conscious Mind or Spirit. It is too 
vast in its complexity to attemlpt any discussion, 
examination or inquiry regarding the forms and 
laws and regulative principles determining so vital 
a fact of the Individual and the Universal Con- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 143 

sciousness, here. We may have occasion to refer 
to this again in a superficial manner, in the relation 
of Ideas and Aesthetic Sentiments — with the scien- 
tific relations and the corresponding conceptions. 
In passing we might raise the question, what reason 
have we for believing that the concepts of analytic 
science, for instance of the physical organism, are 
the true representations of the differentiated ele- 
, ments of experience that constitutes and defines the 
activities of the Self as Self -known or perceived? 
Sensations are not static, but vary under the in- 
fluence and conditions of the mental content and 
relation with other minds as units of the total con- 
sciousness and nature of a Self-conscious Spirit. 

The notion of a kind of animal magnetism, and 
the corresponding notion of electrical bodies walk- 
ing around and exerting their influence by radio- 
active magnetism or whatever, seems usually char- 
acteristic of those who radiate or reflect least light. 
If this were a real, genuine magnetic or electric 
physical influence, why do not the material objects 
they associate with respond to their influence ? They 
never do unless they obey the law of impact and 
reaction with respect to Newton's law controlling 
physical bodies. The laws of mental or psychical 
influence are not like those of a physical type of 
active relations. The influence of an electrical body 
is likely a deception. Such persons have to rely on 
the laws of suggestion, and these are at the mercy 
of the intelligent dialectician, who has found and 
entered a life of freedom. The Divine gift of true 
personality is Self-conscious Spirit. Man, as an 



144 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

angel of Light in the Eealm of Truth is guarded 
from all illusory psychic influences of the lower or- 
der, and has supreme authority with a royal com- 
mission. 

Of animal mfagnetism and all such like supersti- 
tions it might be said, that perhaps the leviathan 
of their commonwealth has swallowed time and 
they perceive their own time as an internal sense 
and iSipace as an objective reality. Their point of 
view always implies a third something in what they 
call the normal activity of the mind in Judgment 
and! experience. Hobbes in his philosophy, which is a 
form of materialism disguised partly by his politi- 
cal conservatism, occupies a position between pure 
empiricism and Cartesian rationalism. Some such 
conception in its: intermediate position with its stub- 
born fact burdens the mind as long as it can, and 
obscures the vision of Truth. Call it satanical or 
what you will, it is an abyss of the imagination 
creating 'something out of nothing, perhapsi like 
Kant describes the Imagination as being able to 
create a world out of something infinitely small. 
Hobbes' view probably belongs to this imitative 
genius of reality — a genius that can at best make 
but a very poor imitation of the Ultimate Reality, 
and then practices a deception on the unsuspecting 
senses until the mind is lost in a maze of mysticism 
and doubt at the opposite extreme of the logical 
chain. Hobbes' view lacks purpose and is there- 
fore valueless; while Kant's view depends on pur- 
posiveness, and is a help to constructive Idealism. 
Truth is like golden links in a chain from Infinity to 



INi THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 145 

Infinity. And the Social Consciousness is never lost 
in the Social Self so long as there is an established 
relation with Truth. In the Realm of Truth, no- 
tions and thought unities in their purity and ulti- 
mate form are the embodied historical appearance 
of the Absolute, and perhaps all that holds in the 
type of a real existent experience in time. In the 
Reality of the past and the Permanence of the pres- 
ent, Logic is not mixed up with the concrete forms 
and characteristics of the experience that is found 
ready at hand as impressions. Pure Logic of imag- 
ination deals with pure notions, and handles the 
conceptions as such, with a consequent logical issue, 
and a corresponding perception. Hence the con- 
trast in actual human life and the personal Life 
that dwells in the Realm of Truth. 

Plato seems to have had a conception of Ab- 
solute equality, invariable and unique, respect- 
ing his conception of true Being. This he re- 
garded as consciously applied to the world of 
things for a standard of measurement of the 
equals that come from the senses. The type of 
sense knowledge aspires to reach the absolute equal- 
ity, but fails. A less entangled sense knowledge 
and a clearer conceptual knowledge of Absolute 
Reality, might have saved him from) this waver- 
ing faith and divided eye of the mind. For the 
human mind to see the truth, a knowledge of uni- 
versal is necessary, and the individual must be able 
to proceed from particulars to a concept of Reason. 
"When the soul is unable to follow, and fails to 
behold the truth * * * her wings fall from her. 



146 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

and she drops to the ground." Plato urged strongly 
the necessity of a reasoning faculty, and the a priori 
element in knowledge. Knowledge seemed to him 
possible only through the universial and necessary, 
and above all the ideal in human activity had an 
important role. There were some things that were 
far from being clear to Plato, and Aristotle's objec- 
tions to Plato in general, instead of explaining these 
problems, doubled them. And since Plato could not 
see a way from dialectics to physics, or from the 
knowledge of Ideas to the knowledge of sensible 
worlds, his attitude compelled him to assert that 
physics had to be satisfied with probabilities; and 
the world is only a kind of symbolism in which the 
soul is not at home. Only those who have lost their 
wings and clear vision of truth enter it. His alle- 
gories have something in them that admit of their 
being interpreted in an Ideal way, without being 
led away by the lower element that everywhere 
crops up, often unexpectedly and perhaps without 
other intentions than to tickle the fancy of the age 
in which he lived. Plato and Aristotle agreed in 
making the object of knowledge the essential Being 
and sensation relative. True knowledge does not 
come through the senses; man treats himself with 
it through the original activity of thought. Plato 
had an eye more for poetry, while Aristotle had 
his eye fixed on the salvation of the physical world 
by trying to harmonize the two. While he emphas- 
ized the Principle of Perfection, he lapsed into a 
kind of passive and active intelligence : "Thus rea- 
son is, on the one hand, of such a character as to 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 147 

become all things; on the other hand, of such a na- 
ture as to create all things." He sacrificed to some 
extent the conception of pure activity for the sake 
of harmony. 

In Neo-Platonism, the metaphysics of the vgvS 
resulted in gradual ascent from sensation to dis- 
cursive thought, rational intuition and ecstasy. It 
was an attempt to reconcile in a vast syncretism, 
the three principal systems of Greek philosophy; 
and in one of the primordial hypostases one of these 
systems was realized while the others were blended 
and reconciled in their Trinity. "Platonism is rep- 
resented by the One, the ineffable Being from whom 
all things proceed; Peripateticism, by the first 
emanation, the vov<, reason; and Stoicism by the 
world soul." The vov £ is Aristotle's pure activity, 
reason to reason, a transubjective activity of 
thought, the meaning of a meaning, etc. ; because the 
Being of the World is too extensive and complex 
in the higher life to involve the primordial concep- 
tions in a conscious process of the thinking activity. 
Logical thought for the ancients had to do more with 
the sensible show of things; and pure thought 
seemed for them a higher order in its unity and 
ecstasy incapable of further description. They be- 
lieved the mind's activity in thinking to be like a 
wave that "bears us on its crest, and swelling, lifts 
us so that all at once we are able to see." At this 
point the soul recognizes its identity with God, and 
finds in Him the source of life, the Principle of 
Being, and its own origin. The Soul is Absolutely 
Real, it has Being, is filled and intoxicated with 



148 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

love; and perfect felicity is all that is known. This 
was recognized as a state that isi seldom experiencedi, 
and then only for a brief moment. Plotinus says 
that he himself only reached this state three times in 
life, and he thought to be able to reach that state 
of ecstasy and remain there would be heaven and 
eternal salvation. 

Descartes' doctrine is in favor of the validity of 
knowledge as the result of clear thinking. This is 
regarded as the expression of reality. Man arrives 
at the idea of a perfect Being by reflection on his 
own nature. God, who is this perfect Being, cannot 
will to deceive, because His nature is Truth ; there- 
fore without fear we may accept as the expression of 
reality all that we conceive clearly and distinctly. 
"The existence of God is the first and most eternal 
of all possible truths, and from it alone all other 
truths proceed. The knowledge of an atheist is not 
true science, because any knowledge that could be 
made doubtful cannot be called by the name of 
science. " Bossuet was influenced by Descartes, but 
did not neglect the doctrines of St. Augustine and 
Thomas Aquinas. He believes "Reason is the light 
given to us by God for our guidance." Reason that 
has for its objects the eternal truths is worthy of the 
name, and of its high commission. Fenelon adopted 
Bossuet's theory, and gave it, however, a more mys- 
tical and idealistic expression. With the most cen- 
tral conception and beloved Ideal of Bossuet, Fen- 
elon and Malebranche, the Eternal Truths are in 
God ; they are, indeed, God Himself present in the 
human mind. In the relation of Reason and eternal 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 149 

Truth consists the direct intercourse of the human 
mind and the Divine. Malebranche with his theory 
of vision in God, gives a systematic form to the 
ideas of the other two, and concludes that the mind 
sees most clearly and distinctly while in the Ideal 
Vision; and the object of knowledge is the Idea. 
These have their source, reality and place in the 
Divine. This results in a more or less mathematical 
view of physical science, but after all, it is probably 
the truest form mathematical applicability can as- 
sume in validating proof. 

Leibnitz rejects the methods of the Platonists and 
the theosophists, and attacks Newton's theory of 
attraction as an occult quality and tries to explain 
those principles of phenomena by a current of light 
or of ether emanating. Leibnitz's conception of 
science is in harmony with his theory of reason. 
Induction for him is not exactly the method of true 
science ; it applies only to a greater or less number 
of particulars and results in empiricism or a collec- 
tion of general rules rather than science. In mathe- 
matics he thinks we have the model of true science, 
and that philosophy should imitate it by getting ex- 
act definitions and then proceed logically. The idea 
of philosophical language is very evidently present 
with Leibnitz in his way of reasoning and philo- 
sophical procedure. This has exposed him to the 
often unjust criticism of a humanistic religious 
point of view. Of course, the terms should mean 
something in the experience of the individual, and 
they should not be used unless they have a final 
logical issue in pure Ideal thought experience. He 



150 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

believed a universal symbolism and language truly 
scientific would make it possible to prove by a kind 
of algebraical calculation the truth of propositions, 
and even to discover new truths. There is a pos- 
sible weakness in his apparent absolute reliance on 
the validity of concepts of science, and proceeding 
from them to discover the possible combinations of 
concepts that might be formed from the analysis of 
previous concepts with the discovery of their rela- 
tions and origin. This is in keeping with the nat- 
ural affinity of mathematical science for a mechan- 
ical physics, and is the mathematician's Ideal of a 
practical value while dealing with weights, measure- 
ments, elasticity and magnetism; but the mathema- 
tician on this score is not at home in the realm of 
philosophy unless he has a profound religious faith 
The ultimate problems of Being and spirit are dis- 
covered and harmonized in personal experience by 
principles that may have a foundation in mathema- 
tical principles, but are not determined by mathe- 
matical laws. Leibnitz, also in mechanical physics, 
was obliged to go beyond the law of contradiction 
and pure mathematics, when he tried to find the 
fundamental laws of nature. These he claimed to 
find in the Principle of Convenience, or of the Best 
as he called it. The laws of indiscernibles, con- 
tinuity, and persistence of force were not absolutely 
necessary or geometrically demonstrable. These 
were given over for the maxims of a higher philos- 
ophy, the applications of the principles of Sufficient 
Reason. Thus Leibnitz regards science as a logical 
unity, through experience and induction up to 



INI THE PERCEPTION OP TEUTH 151 

mathematics and a mechanical explanation of the 
world; at this point its very inadequacy makes it 
surrender to metaphysics and the principle of rea- 
son; then this science of sciences advances rein- 
forced to bring everything in the world, the laws 
of motion and the laws: of nature, under the law 
of design. Finally all ideas depend on the Idea of 
God, who is most intimate with the mind in coeon- 
sciousness of creative activity. The law of Suf- 
ficient Reason has been well termed the supreme 
principle of philosophy ; and) there is one truly Suf- 
ficient Reason, who is God. 

Kant's view that "We only cognize a priori in 
things that which we ourselves place in them," 
shows his worthy Ideal of the Divine consciousness, 
but he had to go through a severe discipline of re- 
flection and transcendental experience to show to 
his own satisfaction and deep conviction that no 
mere process of imitation is available in the knowl- 
edge and discernment of the Reality that satisfies 
the intellectual quest for unity. Then like a broken 
crystal beautiful with all its imperfections, he shows 
the way for a higher and more effective synthesis; 
an Ideal he could but indicate and faintly discern 
in the dim future with his penetrating eye that had 
served him so faithfully in the fine and subtle an- 
alysis of the world of sense experience. Imagina- 
tion, though it be passive like sensation, is a neces- 
sary function of the mind in perception and con- 
ception. 

There is a certain elasticity required in the act 
of remembering, and here imagination plays an 



152 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

important role. Plato recognized this in his 'con- 
ception of the nature of memory. His conception, 
crude and inapplicable when applied to the nature 
of mind, has been actualized in various mechani- 
cal devices and inventions for the reproduction of 
tone in thought, sentiment and song. When Mark 
Twain joked about frozen speech, he perhaps had 
no idea that it would be actualized within his own 
lifetime, and that there are laws of electromagnet- 
ism that fulfill the conditions when they are com- 
plied with the skill of inventive genius. Plato, 
speaking to an age when sculpture was the prin- 
cipal feature of art, said : "I would have you imag- 
ine then that there exists in the mind of man a 
block of wax which is of different sizes in differ- 
ent men; harder, moister, and having more or 
less purity in one than another, and in some of 
an intermediate quality. * * * Let us say 
that this tablet is a gift of Memory, the mother 
of the Muses; and that when we wish to remem- 
ber anything which we have seen or heard or 
thought in our own minds, we hold the wax to 
the perceptions and thoughts and in that material 
receive the impression of them as from the seal 
of a ring; and that we remember and know what 
is imprinted as long as the image lasts; but when 
the image is effaced, or cannot be taken, then we 
forget and do not know." While this conception 
of the nature of memory has a decidedly prophetic 
significance in the mechanical science and construc- 
tion of the world of invention, Aristotle attempted 
a more purely philosophical estimate of the rela- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 153 

tion of memory and imagination. It was a char- 
acteristic of most of Plato's imagery and meta- 
phorical forms, that they have a pleasantly blended 
double phase. And they appeal strongly for this 
attribute of quality and universality to the imagi- 
nation and reason that is sufficiently extensive and 
harmonious in ideal perception to blend their sig- 
nificance and effects in the actualizations of ele- 
ments of the social consciousness that constitute 
the forms, activities and relations of the modern 
world. 

Aristotle associates the act of memory more with 
feeling and thought, "Thus memory is not to be 
confounded with sensation or with intellectual con- 
ception, but is the possession or the modification 
of either one or the other with the condition of past 
time. There is no memory of the present moment 
itself, as has just been said, but only sensation 
as regards the present, expectation as regards the 
future, and memory as regards the past. Thus 
memory is always accompanied by the notion of 
time." Memory relates to the past distinguished 
from the present and the future. It has been 
observed that memory and imagination resemble 
each other in some respect so much that it is not 
possible to distinguish them except in contrast with 
the Ideal of Creative Will and Creative Mind. And 
the poet was likely speaking in a transcendent fact 
of experience when he declared: "Did we judge 
the time aright the past and future in their flight 
would be as one." In actuality what distinguishes 
memory from imagination is the simple fact in ere- 



154 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ative mind, that imagination does not necessarily 
imply recognition or a return to past perceptions. 
These different conceptions in the various philo- 
sophical systems assume a variety of different as- 
pects when applied to the actual world in its mjani- 
foM relations and developments. The materialistic 
theory of the Stoic and Epicurean regarding mem- 
ory and the soul, suggests the nature of the late 
developments of scientific discovery in radium and 
radioactivity. Thus the various theories and con- 
ceptions of the past manifest a particular rela- 
tion to the actualizations of many of the great 
events and principles of science that make up the 
complex world of the present for the universal ap- 
preciation of the constructive imagination, and the 
mind that is logical enough to hold in a unity of 
consciousness the totality of a cosmic order of the 
past and the future in one present moment. Rea- 
son is the ultimate basis of memory as well as of 
imagination, to say nothing of the spontaneous phe- 
nomena that sometimes occurs during processes of 
contcentration with concentrated attention and in- 
tense reflective activity in thought. Whether they 
would be sufficiently intense for visualization or 
perception of whatever character, in a less vision- 
ary type of personality may be left for the indi- 
vidual only to decide in his universal experience. 
There is no doubt that attention and repetition as 
well as sensations help to fix ideas in the mind. 
And Locke was specially adapted to give a good) 
description of the phenomena of memory. He re- 
fers to the character of this type of mental activity 



IN, THE PERCEPTION OP TRUTH 155 

in his own way; "This laying up of our ideas in 
the repository of memory signifies no more than 
this, that the mind has a power in many eases to 
revive perceptions which it once had, with this 
additional perception annexed to them, that it has 
had them before. And in this sense it is, that our 
ideas are said to be in our memories when indeed 
they are actually nowhere." 

In a world that is completely rational, it might 
be said that the world exists only as an object of 
thought. There are certain conditions that make 
consciousness possible, and these are the laws that 
govern the world. The multitude of sensible per- 
ceptions are reduced to a unity in all thought forms 
by the creative imagination whose principles are 
the laws of the completely rational world. The 
universal form of consciousness recognized in the 
completely rational type of experience, may be sub- 
divided into a number of particular formis repre- 
senting the different logical judgments, correspond- 
ing to the categories of the understanding. The 
function of the categories seems to be adapted es- 
pecially to deal with sensible perceptions, but these 
are always or generally received as impressions; 
and there are ways of thinking that don't need 
to wear the armor of the categorical system of con- 
cepts — these are essential, however, in a common 
life and intercourse of spirits so long as they de- 
pend on sense knowledge for a common understand- 
ing. Kant recognized twelve forms of judgment, 
but at the same time he admits a synthetical unity 
of somewhat in the form of intuition. In what does 



156 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

Kant's "synthetical unity of the manifold in intui- 
tion" consist? How can he know that it is not a 
form of the logical judgment with which he mlay 
not be acquainted in his table of the logical forms 
of judgment? If the understanding, by means of 
the synthetical unity, introduces a transcendental 
context into its representations that give them a 
claim to the title of pure concepts of the under- 
standing, there is a law of thought not limited to 
the categorical form of reasoning, though these 
categories when applied to phenomena become the 
principles of pure understanding. The mind in 
its wagers for the sake of truth does not always 
feel comfortable going out to conquer burdened 
with the categories of some other mind. The mind 
in its natural affinity for truth aims with unerring 
judgment, and not only makes its mission secure 
in a world of skeptical blindness to the transcen- 
dental vision of Truth; but also arrives safely at 
the goal of its destiny. 

Whether time is a product of the Imagination or 
a form of thought, need not trouble the transcen- 
dental life of conscious thought experience. It is 
likely the form of thought and tihe product of 
the Imagination, since they co-operate with each 
other in every normal type of experience, religious 
or transcendentally ethical and aesthetical. Heer 
someone may try to misconstrue the meaning of 
imagination and thought, and ask how can sense 
and the understanding work in concert? Or how 
can the unity of the concept come out of the mani- 
fold sense experience, since they are utterly op- 



IB THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 157 

posed? Such a one ought to know that there is 
no unity except it be established and created by 
the laws and principles of harmony and concert. 
The discordant must strike a harmony with the 
harmonious, and the universal harmony of reason 
to reason is thus attained and maintained in every 
particular experience. Without Absolute harmony 
there can be no justifiable claim on the assertion 
of authority in the commands of the individual 
over his environment. The inharmonious is to 
vanish, and the harmonious is to be the Universal 
Law at last in the Life of every rational experience 
with the World Order and the particular events of 
finite satisfaction in the Life of Beauty character- 
istic of the subject-object intercourse with minds 
and spirits. The mind does not gain direct causal 
knowledge through the senses. They can at best 
suggest the notion of causality; and face to face 
with this conception, the mind is at home in a 
realm where sensation is only a form of show and 
transitory appearance of things. A medium is rec- 
ognized as active between the knowledge of Self 
and the knowledge of things. This medium is called 
time. It is the product of the Imagination and 
Kant refers to it as a transcendental scheme. 

With the law of the succession of events is in- 
troduced the nature and study of a new logical 
series in mental activity and perception. The mind 
may no longer be content with making its way 
about in a pragmatical scheme of sense infatuation. 
There are other things more real and permanent 
than sensation. The mind may even defy the laws 



158 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of time in the logical machine, and make tremen- 
dous gains; now here, now there, with the quick 
discernment of ia Universal Consciousness, miaking 
its survey of the Eternal City; and then slipping 
back into the easygoing trudging crowd of common 
life that is content with its daily bread 1 and never 
has any anxiety except for the temporal blesisngs, 
so long as they come in copious abundance to meet 
the exorbitant demands of sense consciousness of 
Self. But that is the way the truth gets expressed 
through the relation of the human and the Divine. 
This pre-established harmony in the acts and inde- 
pendent existences of the monads, Leibnitz con- 
ceived the Universe to be composed of, his too 
exclusively formal style — has been described as 
"spiritual atoms whose whole essence is percep- 
tion and appetition." With his philosophical Ideal, 
Leibnitz, however, advances a fine spiritualized 
conception of the nature of the Self in personal 
identity of recognition. "A spirit cannot be 
stripped of all perception of its past existence." 
There is a continuation and bond of perceptions 
that constitute in reality the same individual, with 
the apperceptions also in the perceptions of feel- 
ings that there is a moral identity; in this con- 
junction of perception and apperception there is 
a causality that makes real identity appear. Even 
if the scientific mind, hastening to keep pace with 
the facts of consciousness, has to assert or revert 
to vibrations of ether and ideas; the consciousness 
that can read them is surely not entirely dependent, 
if at all, on brain states and neuroses. There may 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 159 

be sensations and ideas that arise from them and 
by the law of association recall one another, yet 
these cerebral activities are simply natural sign** 
of the ideas they excite ; and the intelligence that 
is able to observe them might read them like a book. 
The physiological theory miay try to make memory 
a biological fact, and describe it as an activity or 
flow from the fully conscious to the unconscious, 
etc., to the completely organized memory of the 
musician, and to the compound reflex action of 
organic memory; but it may be truthfully said 
that "memory is a vision in time." In practice 
we rarely pass through all the intervening stages, 
but simplify the procedure by reference to points. 
The most important events of a life exist in knowl- 
edge as distant in varying degrees from the present 
moment. A memory can be localized sufficiently 
accurate by reference to one of the great divisions. 
The artistic genius in this respect consists in pass- 
ing quickly over long intervals as with a single 
glance. And one of the conditions in this appli- 
cation of memory is forgetfulness. There are im- 
mense numbers of states of consciousness that have 
to be totally obliterated, and many more suppressed. 
These, however, may never pass out of the range 
of the law of association; but they are relegated 
to this sphere where they never recur unless they 
are summoned to appear before the throne of Judg- 
ment, Amnesia and the mechanical theory explains 
things in memory, but not memory. The imagina- 
tion is subject to fluctuations and changing varia- 
tion ; reason perceives things as necessary and un- 



160 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

der the form of Eternity. In the consciousness 
of an Absolute necessity, reason dispels the illusion 
of chance or accident. 

Stuart Mill analyzed the apparently simple intui- 
tions. His failures were, if any, in emphasizing 
analysis over synthesis. Analysis should not be 
made an absolute determining purpose. We should 
only analyze so that we can construct a more per- 
fect and complete, higher and better synthesis. We 
analyze experience so that nothing can attack or 
effect us in an unconscious, unintelligible way. 
Janet claims that "J. S. Mill does not deny that 
men think they discover in themselves universal 
and necessary principles, only he reduces this be- 
lief to an illusion." This is the inevitable result 
of a purely analytical method and purpose. The 
purely analyst tears everything apart and puts 
nothing together; and then he fails to see that 
wihich is most real in all things, in which the con- 
structive Idealist rejoices. And failing to see the 
reality he then calls the universal Being of con- 
sciousness an illusion. He analyzes everything 
away and then finds, indeed, nothing left in the 
corresponding terms of his crude conceptions. His 
negative judgment has no power. 

Herbert Spencer evolves thought from the ex- 
ternal world, but icannot define the external world 
in terms of thought; and, when he cannot reduce 
it to a permanent possibility of sensations, he re- 
turns to realism. This he transfigures into a kind 
of psycho-physical parallelism, of facts regarded as 
symbols of a 'double aspect of reality. This he 



IN) THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 161 

thinks is unknowable. Spencer's unknowable takes 
a form that Shows its nature to be foreign or out- 
side of the Divine harmony and Unity in variety 
of personal Being, when thought is regarded as an 
activity of the Divine mind in the world of differ- 
entiated Being — the sphere of religion, morals and 
the Social Consciousness. 



PART VII. 

THE PRINCIPLE OF PERFECTION AND THE 
MORAL IDEAL. 

It is said that "The nobler and more perfect a 
thing is the slower it is in arriving at maturity. 
A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning pow- 
ers and mental faculties hardly before the age of 
twenty-eight; a woman at eighteen.-' What is the 
significance of a stray thought, for instance, after 
coming from a discussion of the critical philosophy 
of Kant? Can law in itself exist outside of the 
mental sphere or realm of personal being? There 
ican be a formal law laid' down for a point and 
standard of reference, but it is only an objective 
standard and not a ruling or governing law. The 
Law of Reason is the most real and significant of 
all laws and principles; and in metaphysical trea- 
tises we try to avoid epistemological problems as 
much as possible, and approach a nature of Rea- 
soned faith in our discussions of metaphysical 
themes. Here we come in contact with what is 
called the intuitive or direct apprehension charac- 
teristic of the religious consciousness. Whatever 
the difference between human and: 1 divine person- 
ality may be, it is essentially the nature of direct, 
though internal perception. It is not altogether 
different from other facts of consciousness; like 
other facts, it may or it may not, sometimes it does 
>metimes it does not, arrest the attention of 



IN! THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 163 

a particular individual. It is probably like the 
difference between animism and religion. When a 
man is not very well acquainted with the Divine 
laws and the Divine personality, he believes that 
he projects his own personality into external na- 
ture. Animism has been a form of religious ex- 
perience, but it is not religion. In religion man is 
increasingly impressed by the Divine personality, 
however faint or ill-attended the religious conscious- 
ness can be imagined to have been in the early 
stages of religion, animism is in and by itself a 
higher form of religious thought than can be found 
in totemism. The Source of all Ideals is in the 
Infinite, however crudely they may be miscon- 
strued, and however far they may stray from the 
genuine religious consciousness. 

Spencer thinks that "All mental action whatever 
is definable as the continuous differentiation and 
integration of states of consciousness." Regarding 
living things Spencer places organization and mind 
at the poles of Being, as it were the clearest fact 
about the lowest forms and the highest dynamical 
conception. Organization attaches to the lowest, 
and mind to the highest forms. Between these per- 
haps equally balanced is a transition point in the 
evolutional drama where the poet glides easily over 
from the physical standpoint to the psychical, but 
the facts are still dealt with chronologically. But 
suddenly the advance and synthetic movement 
ceases, and when the end of psychology is sat- 
isfactorily accomplished!, there is a backward, 
sweeping, analytical mJovement by which the first 



164 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

starting point is demolished and exploded like 
a mighty boomerang. Out of the ruins of an ex- 
ploded hypothesis there arises by and by what is 
poetically styled "Transfigured Realism," a final ta- 
bleau presenting a picture of society to philosophy 
in a moment of time, such that philosophy from 
Skepticism up to Absolute Idealism finds something 
to be thankful for and anon picks it up as a treas- 
ure of Truth, careless about the modifications that 
may consequently be inaugurated in the established 
form of belief or conception of Ultimate Reality. It 
is said that no fixed boundary can be assigned to 
"experience except by extending it in thought, and 
thought itself involves experience." The phrase, 
"content of experience" or "content of conscious- 
ness" is apt to mislead the superficial eye of dis- 
cernment. The experience of one cannot be said to 
limit the experience of another, as one moment of 
time or space is limited by another of like quality 
and nature; yet experience is always regarded as 
self-maintained, and as an organic unity. Bain sug- 
gests that "Mind is definable" first by the method 
of contrast, or as a, remainder due when the object 
world is subtracted from the totality of conscious 
experience. But when he meets the problem of ex- 
ternal perception he adds that the only possible 
knowledge of a world is in reference to individual 
minds. When knowledge means a state of mind the 
notion of material things is simply a mental fact, 
The notion of an independent material world is 
not capable of discussion as an existential fact. The 
very act would! be a contradiction. It is reasonable 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TEUTH 165 

and logical to speak only of a world as it is pre- 
sented to our minds. Here, at least, the fundamen- 
tal unity of experience is recognized in the duality 
of subject and object. There must be a subjective 
side to the object consciousness, and an objective 
side to the subject consciousness. The objects of 
a subject consciousness are those of an individual 
experience only; those of the object consciousness 
are the objects in which all other sentient beings 
participate. We should notice, also, that this is 
variable according to the different degrees of con- 
ciousness. What is psychologically objective is 
often epistemologically subjective. Ward is au- 
thority on this point, respecting the "Absolutely 
ultimate relation within experience we can either 
say that it is inexplicable, or we may entertain the 
notion of an Absolute, in whom the unjity of ex- 
perience outlasts the duality." We have no reason 
to attempt to bring this relation of subject and 
object under the category of cause and effect. 
"Causes must be real before they can be causes. 
An effect or consequent cannot give rise to its own 
cause or antecedent." 

It is perhaps a well-reasoned faith, that philos- 
ophy can be nothing but a system of well-ordered 
opinions. In so far as this is a fundamental fact, 
an end is often spoiled by pressing an argument too 
far. The problem of practical reason is to deter- 
mine the objective principle of the will. What is 
that appeal made to the rational will to which man 
responds? I think it is a worthy Ideal. It must 
be something more than a mere maxim, Plant some 



166 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

principle in the heart, and in the intellect it will 
grow. From Kant's position his system seems ex- 
tremely awkward. If James' statement referred to 
before is the right attitude, what is to become of the 
ultimate objective elements of Being when complete 
analysis of the world has been made? He takes the 
ascendant point of view when he says, "We all 
cease analyzing the world at some point and notice 
no more difference. The last units with which we 
stop are our objective elements of being." Being 
is to be active according to the essential nature of 
that which is. This is indeed a very complex pro- 
cess. Ward thinks purely cognitive experience is 
impossible; even time and space relations involve 
elements due to activity initiated by feeling. There 
are two formis of experience — the experience of a 
given individual and experience as the result of 
intersubjective intercourse. This gives rise to dual- 
ism unless the second form can be shown to be an 
extension of the first, and that there is an organic 
unity throughout both. "If philosophy is really to 
unify knowledge, it must perforce protest against 
these facticious unities, which allow of no bond but 
the unknowable." 

Transubjective experience is of a higher order, 
but the elements are supplied by immediate exper- 
ience so far as the object consciousness is concerned. 
When forms and fundamenta are concerned, intel- 
lectual forms consist of relations between whatever 
fundamenta there are. New fundamenta may 
emerge with the ampler paralax of universal ex- 
perience. "The subject of universal experience is 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 167 

one and continuous with the subject of individual 
experience," and "in universal experience also there 
is the same intimate articulation of subjective and 
objective factors." On these grounds Ward sub- 
stantiates a charge of fallacy against naive realism. 
The subject of universal experience is not numeric- 
ally distinguished from the subject of individual ex- 
perience. The same subject advances to the level of 
self-consciousness, and participates in all that is 
communicable, in all that is inteligible in the ex- 
perience of other self-conscious subjects or spirits. 
"Universal experience is not distinct from all sub- 
jects, but common to all intelligents, peculiar to 
none." 

The intellectual and the spiritual element in reli- 
gion shows itself in man's early religious propensi- 
ties and nature. Worshiping things by wiiich he was 
surrounded seemed to be the inevitable conse- 
quence of the fact that he had as yet made little 
progress in the work of discriminating the contents 
of his consciousness, external and internal. But it 
is impossible that the contemplation of such ex- 
ternal objects could be the source of the sentiment 
of the supernatural. The source manifests itself 
from within the inner consciousness. Totemism 
was or is the attempt to translate and express in 
outward action the union of the human will with the 
Divine. Primitive man sought to reconcile his inner 
and external experience by identifying the personal 
divine will, which manifested itself to his inner 
consciousness, with one of the personal agents in 
the external world that exercised an influence on 



168 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

his fortunes. If there is an ugly element in primi- 
tive religions, it is dtue to the lack of aesthetic taste 
and appreciation of the Spiritualized Ideal, char- 
acteristic of the natural man. Art in life and the 
spiritual element in religion has lifted man from 
crude nature to fellowship with the Divine. Where 
there is a sense of the Beautiful there is the pres- 
ence of the divine, but no man can touch or de- 
stroy. They may break the vase, they may tear the 
leaves and eliminate the delicate tints and forms 
from their beautiful design, but the sentiment of 
the rose will cling to it still. "The beauty of all 
things even to the meanest of the minerals pro- 
claims God." Love is the Ultimate of all being. "To 
think is not to love, but to love is to think." The 
"freedom of will" and the holding of ethical and 
aesthetical ideas, are activities belonging to the 
nature of mind, there is a class of problems and 
principles that psychological science hands over to 
philosophical ethics and philosophical aesthetics 
for a more thorough examination. The problems 
have their origin for the most part in that form 
of experience called the consciousness of Self. 
Problems only exist till they are explained away; 
and they db not exist before the Self is conscious 
of certain imperfect conditions of environment and 
knowledge. Though the study may be epistemo- 
logical and metaphysical, it is well to assume the 
responsibility of being true to the empirical science 
of mftnd life. Of reflective experience and the world 
of fact, the Poet's song is significantly true : 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 169 

"Comrade, hail ! The pulse of the world's astir 
Under the snow, and the ancient doubts are dead. 
Freedom, achievement, wait for us. Come, be 

glad!" 
I listened, I looked ; and faith to my hope was wed. 
His kingly courage told me the beautiful truth ; 
He is mine, and his strength infuses my rescued 

will. 
Up, faint heart! We will conquer together my 

year; 
Life and love shall their old sweet promise fulfill. 

Taylor says, "Were my interests widened so as 
to embrace the whole scheme of the universe, I 
should no longer perceive the contents of that uni- 
verse as dispersed through space, because I should 
no longer have any special standpoint, a here to 
which other existences would be there." 

"My special standpoint in space may thus be 
said to be phenomenal of my special and peculiar 
interests in life, the special logical standpoint from 
which my experience reflects the ultimate structure 
of the Absolute. And so, generally, though the 
conclusion can for various reasons not be pressed 
in respect of every detail of spatial appearance, 
the spatial grouping of intelligent purposive beings 
is phenomenal of their inner logical affinity of in- 
terest and purpose. Groups of such beings, closely 
associated together in space, are commonly also 
associated in their peculiar interests, their special 
purposes, their characteristic attitude towards the 
universe. The local contiguity of the members of the 
group is but an 'outward and visible sign' of an 'in- 



170 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ward and spiritual' community of social aspiration. 
This is of course only approximately the case; the 
less the extent to which any section of mankind; 
have succeeded in actively controlling the physical 
order for the realization of their own purposes, the 
more nearly is it the truth that spatial remoteness 
and inner dissimilarity of social purposes coincide. 
In proportion as man's conquest over his non- 
human environment becomes! complete, he devises 
for himself means to retain the inner unity of social 
aims audi interests in spite of spatial separation. 
But this only shows once more how completely spa- 
tial order is a mere imperfect appearance which 
only confusedly adumbrates the nature of the higher 
Reality behind it. Thus we may say that the 'aboli- 
tion of distance' affected by science and civilization 
is, as it were, a practical vindication of our meta- 
physical doctrine of the comparative unreality of 
space." 

Lower conceptions of space are indeed not al- 
ways factors or elements of consciousness; and 
for that mind 1 they have no ontological value. The 
spiritual Self is a self -felt and known activity that 
cannot be localized in time or space. As Prof. 
Ladd has said, "Self-consciousness is not an ab- 
straction. The description of it m(ay be and often 
is a mere abstract relating of abstractions. But, 
in actuality, self-consciousness is the experience of 
a being with itself. This experience is at timtes 
so rich and content-full, that when fully compre- 
hended and faithfully described, it is seen to in- 
volve attending to and thinking about the self, feel- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 171 

ing of self — the affection of being alive as both 
suffering and doing — and activity that is self-di- 
recting as well as self-cognizing." For instance, 
every one admires the sympthy of friends; and 
whose interests blend are friends. Between friends 
there is no fear, but love only is sought in trusting 
confidence. If people must fall in love, let it be witn 
high Ideals; for the knowledge of Self is imme- 
diate, while the knowledge of things is only the 
force of an analogy. As a psychological professor 
once brilliantly remarked : " The mind does in- 
fluence the body, but the body is not a clog that 
clings to the nrind." Then the question arises, are 
there any movements that are not related with 
consciousness? 

The principle of causality may be understood as 
any set of circumstances by which any event regu- 
larly occurs. This set is total — for instance, the 
total experience of the race, and summation of 
thought. Sin has roots in neither a material con- 
stitution or mind alone. One is inclined to think 
that when reality or absolute truth is known and 
evil disclosed by a discovery of the true nature of 
Self and things, evil will find its own inevitable 
destruction in the nature, impulse and strivings 
of an evil will that is no longer restrained by the 
peaceful, harmonious laws of real minds, that have 
entered the new Heavens and the New Earth, built 
on the foundations of Truth out of the ideal, ethi- 
cal, aesthetical values of a social order and per- 
sonal life in perfection. In this transition period, 
they who have a clear vision of the Kingdom of 



172 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

Absolute Truth and the glory of the Kingdom of 
God, and long for the fulfilment with sorrowing 
mindls and hearts and spiritual suffering on ac- 
count of the unhappy environment of the present 
life — let them be strong, and not faint; borne up- 
ward as on the wings of eagles, sailing on high 
and continually renewing their strength. In the 
language of the ancient Philosopher and Prophet : 
"They shall be as mighty men, which tread down 
their enemies in the mire of the streets in the 
battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is 
with them, and the riders on horses shall be con- 
founded." And again, "I will strengthen them in 
the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his 
name, saith the Lord." 

The free play of the imagination in contempla- 
tion of an object is an essential factor or function 
of the feeling of beauty and sublimity. Kant said, 
"It is the state of mind produced by a certain rep- 
resentation with which the reflective Judgment is 
occupied, and not the Object, that is to be called 
sublime." This is probably a better conception of 
the subliminal consciousness than that conception 
which is concerned with the various types of ab- 
normjal psychic phenomena. There is undoubtedly 
a fine sense of the subliminal element in the love 
affairs of the poets; andi there is sublimity in lit- 
erature, as well as in the rosy peaks of snow-capped 
mountains, when the light and color in rare and 
delicate tints play and skip from crag to crag of 
crystal formations during the progress of dawn 
on a summer day. One of the most striking exam- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 173 

pies of the sublime in literature is the crowning 
summit of genius in a work inspired by an ideal- 
ized love. Dante's love for Beatrice is a classic type 
of love almost completely ideal. That love was the 
inspiration of his life work. Dante's actual ac- 
quaintance with his beloved was very slight, and he 
only twenty-five when she died:; yet the memorial 
of his love was the Divine Comedy he finished at 
the age of fifty-six. The love of knights for their 
ladies in the days of chivalry was not far from this 
type. Each knight carried with him his lady's fa- 
vor, and this was an inspiration to deeds of knightly 
power. It is a regular fact that romiance has come 
late in life to many of those who have created ro- 
mance for others. We need but refer to Hawthorne, 
Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett, and we have types of 
the most intense and romantic struggles of lofty 
spirits winging their course through the common 
and the royal life of the prosaic world. As fate 
would have it they were married at forty, and 
their happiness was near ideally perfect. Thus 
man is master of his fate. Of Mrs. Tennyson it 
has been written that she walked by his side more 
than forty years, "quickening his insight, strength- 
ening his faith, fulfilling his every heart's desire." 
Should any claim that love is selfish absorption, 
there is nothing of the kind in this type of love. 
The world is richer for the life of love, when those 
men and women found in each other the inspira- 
tion of their best work. In contrast with these 
there is the pitiful love story of Keats, whose ideals 
were so high that no woman seemed to have been 



174 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

able to realize them; yet he fell in love with a 
pretty face and graceful figure. He knew all the 
while, if he kept sight of his ideal, that the graces 
of heart and mind he so admired with ardent de- 
votion were not hers. He seemed to have perceived 
at the first dawn of the day of romance when cupid 
first sped his flying arrow that he had been captivat- 
ed by the physical charms. And so great was the 
power of his infatuation and the enthrallment of his 
ill health that he wore himjself out with the strug- 
gle between his ideal and the reality so hopelessly 
below the ideal reality, which Tennyson refers to 
as having its home in the mind. Browning in An- 
drea del Sarto has not neglected a study of this 
type of love's distressing effects. The active or 
Ideal side of the individual is indeed more char- 
acteristic than the sensory. There are unhappy 
unions on earth that make them idealize a mar- 
riage in Heaven. Then Heaven may mean the 
realm of eternal day, where everything is perfec- 
tion, and life is love. Death may mean nothing 
more to them than the waking up from the sleep 
of material sensation. And; the love-forsaken soul 
may cry in utter despair, "Dearest heart! With- 
out our love I cannot live; without it I dare not 
die." Turning from human loves, music is the 
purest example of beauty in the object. 

The satisfactory explanation of one's experience 
and interpretation of the conceptual order of the 
world is a worthy idea of causation, that can be 
resolved into qualitative determinations of person- 
ality by a purely Ideal character. Though the 



INI THE PEKCEPTION OF TEUTH 175 

superficial mind in view of the recent effort to 
explain everything by motion or activity leaves 
physics and metaphysics diluted with speculative 
myth and the whims of fancy that cause sound phil- 
osophy to seem a little shady and somewhat in 
the rear; yet the true metaphysician may reply in 
popular discussions - with humble dignity that is 
at once convicting and at the same time reclaims 
authority when birlliant hypotheses are like a van- 
ishing flame : "I know, but we are trying to catch 
up/' And the pure idealist may do well to heed 
the call to brush over the lowlands a little more. 
The category of quantity may not be needed as a 
vital fact, but we do need Quality. Indeed, most 
things related to force and energy can be explained 
by reference to quality. What seems static in the 
materialistic world may be readily explained as 
the manifestation of a will. Could will exist apart 
from Intelligence and Feeling it would be a very 
passive something. Intelligence and Love are most 
everything; and the two united are in essence an 
active Will. Indeed., Love is an attribute and power 
that does include all. Love is both intelligence 
and a free, active will. The elective will is thor- 
oughly evident in all fine co-ordinative activity ad- 
justed and. responsive to the Immanent Idea of 
Pure Design in the Absolute Intelligence. There 
is a certain analogy of the Individual type of this 
teleological order, when the measurements of Mr. 
B — are contrasted with those of Mr. C — . Mr. 
B — may be up and hit a glass ball in the air, 
while Mr. C — is trying to get his rifle in line. 



176 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

The one is trained to make the co-ordinations in- 
stinctively, and he fixes; his eye on the mark, while 
the other has to spend some time consciously try- 
ing to get the less finely co-ordinated) activities into 
range. Some have called intuition the seventh 
sense, and they think it is shown in physical signs 
by large eyes, great expansion of the optic nerve, 
very fine, clear skin and fine hair. There is proba- 
bly no other co-ordination on record so well ordered 
and responsive as the eye; it takes its mark imme- 
diately, and the sensitiveness of the optic nerve is 
shown by its brilliancy. Undoubtedly in such con- 
ditions what is called "intuition" or "sensitiveness" 
to external impressions is to be expected. The men- 
tal faculties of hope, analysis, mental imitation, 
sublimity, ideality, human nature — have been re- 
ferred to various organs and functions, by those 
who are interested in physical signs. Why the liver 
should have anything to do with hope and analysis ; 
the nervous system with mental imitation ; the per- 
fected condition of the mind and body, with Sublim- 
ity ; the high quality of brain, muscles and nerves, 
with Ideality; or the fine quality of nerves and 
muscles, with human Nature ; I do not know. There 
is also a claim that the darker the skin the less 
developed the organization. The mystic philoso- 
pher and scientist, Swedenborg, says, "Angels" com: 
municate "by looking in each others faces"; and 
that "They comprehend what is in the mind by 
merely looking at the face." In this world espe- 
cially in the application of mental life, it has been 
well longed for and 'desired;' for we want beings or 



IN THE PERCEPTION OP TRUTH 177 

kings who govern and women who philosophize. 
Then "If men love because they believe, and be- 
lieve because they love, life becomes an unalloyed 
delight." And it is a credit to the wisdom of 
woman when her womjanly talents are sufficiently 
emphasized and employed to endow her with spir- 
itual discernment and the aesthetic Judgment. In- 
deed, "When women know how to attach men to 
them by means of pure love, all individual forces 
gain vigor, a nation flourishes, and the people are 
at Peace." We bring the aesthetical judgment to 
the test of argument and reason, but this demon- 
strative apodictic way of treating the judgment of 
taste is not always in agreement with taste itself. 
While discussing the emotions, a psychological 
professor at Yale made the remiark that we are ac- 
customed to think of ourselves as a kind of con- 
sciousness sitting around in something we call a 
body, getting a piece of information here and there. 
The remark is very suggestive, but I personally 
have been accustomed to think of the emotions as 
something purely aesthetic, and have found it dif- 
ficult to apply this to a bodily resonance theory. 
Certain thoughts and feelings of intellectual qual- 
ity send the blood coursing through the system, 
causing a modification in sensory consciousness, 
yet this is more correctly regarded from a particu- 
lar point of view as the sign or effect of an emotion 
in a bodily resonance. An emotion arises in the 
aesthetical realm, and the intellectual or spiritual 
parts of the combination in the aesthetical senti- 
ment are the initiative activities, and while there 



178 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

is a relation between the aesthetic and the sensory, 
these two cannot be identified as one and the same, 
because the sensory implies something which the 
aesthetical judgmjent of taste does not. The con- 
ception or notion of a bodily resonance is too lim- 
ited in extent to include more than a very low de- 
gree of the emotional element in the experience of 
the Individual Mind and Life of the Spirit. Prof. 
Ladd once in a lecture referred to the time when 
Garfield was assassinated for an instance of a com- 
munistic judgment that was so strong it were pos- 
sible to detect it in every fibre of one's body, if 
sensitive enough; and it was not safe for anyone 
to disagree or go against the wave of sentiment. 
The very atmosphere was charged as it were. Per- 
haps many of us have noticed instances of the same 
fact : the subtle atmosphere as it were charged with 
a powerful sentiment or influence of a prevailing 
strong general judgment. On certain occasions this 
may be particularly noticed as an aesthetical or 
ethical judgment, with which one is always in sym- 
pathy. One needs only to visit a museum of fine 
arts, or enter a harmjonious social environment to 
verify the fact of experience, but there is always 
a personal element of Creative Mind present with 
the Individual; and we have to console the Self 
with the poet's declaration once more : 

"The type of perfect in the mind 
In nature we can nowhere find." 

While there are always aesthetical and ethical judg- 
ments with which one finds sympathy, there is an 



IN\ THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 179 

unpleasant atmosphere unmistakably associated 
with a dull, materialistic, unloving, unsocial com- 
munity or city. 

An emotion is a mental process within the limits 
of and under the control of the higher mental facul- 
ties of the Reason; and it seems that the emotion 
cannot be less than this connection between the 
mind and body that klenotes the discharge of ner- 
vous energy by the judging activity in perception, 
either mental or physical. And the higher the 
theme and thought, the finer the emotion and the 
expression of feeling. The unity of the individual 
life is of a psychic nature, and ethical love is a 
tie that unites the social organization. In the be- 
ginning Love unites the many in the One ; through 
life Love maintains the identity ; in knowledge Love 
of the Ideal discerns Reality; in crises Love trans- 
forms the life; and in the higher unity and free- 
dom of the spiritual order, Love is Life. Prof. 
James says, "Our emotions must always be in- 
wardly what they are whatever be the physiological 
ground of their apparition. If they are deep, pure, 
worthy, spiritual facts on any conceivable theory 
of their physiological source, they remain no less 
deep, pure, spiritual and worthy of regard on this 
present sensational theory." This is .a suggestive 
thought but hardly dare be advanced until the phys- 
ical organism is conceived of as wholly spiritual, 
released from the influences of materialistic minds 
in the present order of social relations. An emotion 
is most likely the psychic thrill that follows the 
judging process or activity, and is inhibited or ex- 



180 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

pressed by the bodily organism according to the 
degree of self commjand and mastery through highly 
and finely co-ordinated activities of the Self. James 
refers to the difficulty of detecting with certainty 
purely spiritual qualities of feeling. He thinks 
also that "a positive proof of the theory would be 
* * * given if we could firid a subject absolutely 
anaesthetic inside and out 4 but not paralytic, so that 
emotion-inspiring objects might evoke the usual 
bodily expressions from him but who, on being 
consulted, should say that no abjective emotional 
affection was felt. Such a man would be like one 
who, because he eats, appears to bystanders to be 
hungry, but who afterwards confesses that he had 
no appetite at all." James also asserts that "If 
there be such a thing as a purely spiritual emotion, 
I should be inclined to restrict it to this cerebral 
sense of abundance arid ease, this feeling, as Sir 
W. Hamilton would call it, of unimpeded and not 
overstrained activity of thought * * *. Under 
ordinary conditions, it is a fine and serene but not 
excited state of consciousness. " 

The conception of a bodily space is probably 
formed by contact with environmient — with other 
minds. And there is perhaps something like a 
fringe of consciousness acquired in a struggle 
through life. A so-calle'd. bodily resonance may be 
nothing more than the manifestation of an emotion 
in this fringe of consciousness. The emjotion of 
Love as ethical sentiment sometimes causes a per- 
son to suffer in the life of other persons; yet these 
higher sentiments are so highly valued that they 



INI THE PEKOEPTION OF TRUTH 181 

are willingly endured to the degree of suffering 
and self-sacrifice for the sake of love and keeping 
these higher sentiments vital factors in personality. 
Probably all the organs of the body are conscious 
to some extent, and capable of direct action in 
obedience to the determination of the highest cen- 
ter of co-ordination in the Individual. And when 
perfect co-ordination is established it very likely 
ranges all the w^ay from finite to infinite person- 
ality in universal mind. Then the Individual con- 
sciousness may feel that "My Self is the Universe 
so far as I know this in the experience of Beality." 
Most reliable thinkers and psychological students 
do not parade a philosophical wisdom of telepathic 
phenomena. It is not so much a science as a fact, 
or a philosophy as a life ; and it is to be consciously 
lived and acted rather than discussed and talked 
about : "Openness to all influence that is elevating, 
invigorating, and healthful. This from another 
point of view is virtue of candor, dispassionateness 
or single-eyedness." Eadioactivity and emanation 
furnish fruitful sources of demonstration of this 
higher kind of phenomena, Psychologically con- 
sidered co-ordination means a great deal; for in- 
stance, the same reaction time is sometimes re- 
quired for a single letter or short word that the 
recognition of a long one requires. Oo-ordination 
perhaps explains nmjch of the variations in the re- 
action time of different individuals, and these dis- 
tinct variations are sometimes referred to as the 
personal equation. If one were to keep on refining 
till he vanished into a summer cloud, may be the 



182 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

personal equation would be eliminated. But prac- 
tical activity in a world like that in which man 
finds himself, implies a strong personal element 
of will and rational direction; for the world hasi 
to be subdued and man must find peace with the 
world and himself in a harmonious environment. 
He is not like the fresh-water hydra, fighting it out 
to the finish until they are cut into two living or- 
ganisms that sail away, the one as mjuch alive as 
the other. 

There is sublimity in action when there is a 
sufficient moral incentive to accomplish a great 
task in the face of adversities. The story was once 
told in Kant Seminary by a laldy who referred to 
a picture that illustrated something of the sublime 
because it is typical of certain elements of the re- 
ligious consciousness. High over a mountain an 
eagle was soaring, down in the valley sat a vul- 
ture by the side of a half-eaten soldier, waiting for 
his brother to come and help finish the feast. The 
awful contrast under the eye of boundless free- 
dom is sublime, when contemplated in the spirit of 
brave, stalwart, moral freedom, in the struggle for 
perfection contrasted with sensuality. "Honesty, 
fair dealing, courtesy, courage, spiritual saneness, 
these are the things that make the noble nature 
that make life blessed. And all these things are 
habits, to be strengthened or weakened, to be made 
great or small, to be chosen or rejected." Habit 
is a fundamental law. There is perhaps nothing 
mtore perennial in man than habit and imitation. 
They are the source and principle of all practice 



IN' THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 183 

and harmony in the world. The Ideal of human 
perfection may be formally defined up to a certain 
degree as "the complete and harmonious realiza- 
tion of all human capabilities in a common life of 
humanity/' sufch that in it all the several mem- 
bers, whether groups or individuals, are ends in 
themselves, an'd at the same time subservient mem- 
bers and parts of the complete order. Fleiderer 
says, "When an Ideal has attained to dominion, 
and has seemingly founded its authority firmly 
for all time in fixed institutions, the defects also 
forthwith make themselves visible which are con- 
nected with the dominion of every limited Ideal. 
Then a reaction arises in the moddi of the peoples; 
critical reflection awakens; doubt of the absolute 
truth of the previous Ideal of life and of the orders 
of life that have sprung from it takes possession 
of individuals, and then of ever greater masses 
of men, and in the conflict with the old there arises 
a new Ideal, the goal of the striving of coming 
generations. This in its turn again passes through 
the same circle of aspiring, conquering and ruling, 
and of being combated and overcome. These trans- 
formations of human Ideals in the succession of 
ages form the kernel of history, its spiritual sub- 
stance, which all external events subserve as its 
means ankl expression. " 

In the midst of this changing appearance in the 
activity of the Ideal Life of free personality, strong 
mjoral will is required. This freedom has been de- 
fined as "Self-determination of the will, not in the 
sense of a determination out of groundless contin- 



184 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

gency, but self-determination on the ground of its 
own determined being, its temperament or charac- 
ter. As a man is so hie acts." The rise of moral 
life as well as all life generally, consists in the ob- 
servable fact that all is cause and all effect; the 
seed springs from the fruit arid the fruit from 
the seed. The inner and outer have a constant re- 
lation of interaction. AH experience and acting 
enter as co-operating factors into the formjation of 
character; and out of character the acting proceeds 
again according to the type. Yet here there seems 
to be a possibility of morally influencing the will 
by education and instruction. It is the mission of 
the poet to create and portray Ideal characters. We 
are always delighted, with a mioral nature in a series 
of consistent actions, and the more perfectly the 
poet succeeds thus to represent the qualities or 
ethical perfection, so that all the individual mani- 
festations of a person coalesce into the unity of a 
unique and specifically determined character, so 
much the more do we find such poetic invention 
making aesthetically satisfying impressions of the 
truth of life. 

In the deduction of the judgment of taste, Kant's 
main position shows that there are certain judg- 
ments of taste that are necessary and universal. A 
purely logical or argumentative demonstration of a 
judgment of taste is not to say posssible. Experi- 
mental work in psychology is suggestive, though it 
is not exactly adapted to the subject. The historical 
method comjbined with the psychological is perhaps 
the more successful and adequate. Objects of art 



INI THE PEBCEPTION OF TEUTH 185 

that have stood the test are worth study, and this 
is the more fruitful in aesthetics. The character 
of the feeling the objects of beauty evoke is the 
test of their beauty. The significance and ontologi- 
cal value of the feelings of the race respecting the 
judgments of taste are of no little moment. We are 
not to be conformed to this world, but we are to be 
transformed by the renewing of our minds. The 
oak tree illustrates an important truth in its sim- 
ple life. It stands for strength and rigid firmness 
against the tempests of an elemental universe, yet 
is swayed by the gentlest breeze. The acorn 
falling in unfavorable surroundings may send 
forth its tender shoots, but dies because the 
conldiitions of its life through proper support in 
the environment are not favorable. An'd>, therefore, 
it has to be conformed to the inorganic world. Man 
represents a different type. He has free choice. 
He has self-determination and is not to be con- 
formed to his lower environment, but transformed 
by the renewing of his mind. Kant has well shown 
the blindness of "perceptions without conceptions" 
and the emptiness of "conceptions without percep- 
tions." It is never satisfying merely to recognize 
by the imagination and kindred processes a sort 
of blind intellection mediating between sensibility 
an'd pure thought. Thinking is acting and feeling 
consequentially, and like all acting has a motive 
and an end. Without definite springs of action 
self-determination is meaningless. For Hume, the 
human mind was but a "bundle of perceptions," 
though he was at a loss, hopelessly so, to find the 



186 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

"principle" that unites the "bundle." Kant declares 
this principle to be the synthesizing activity that 
yields self-consiciousness. In this activity we may 
find the source of the conception of nature as a 
system! of unity and law. And in the recognition of 
unity and law we have the basis for an aesthetical 
judgment, and the development of a science of the 
beautiful. We become more or less self-conscious 
in the harmony of ethical love, on the basis of a 
free Spirit. 



PART VIII. 

UNIFORMITY OF LAW AND DIVINE REVEL- 
ATION IN THE FREE ACTIVITY OF THE 
PROPHETIC SPIRIT. 

It was represented in the racial experience of the 
Ideal Religion by the uniformity of law according 
to Divine revelation arid by the free activity of the 
prophetic spirit. These were two phases of Jewish 
piety. The heart religion of the Psalms shows its 
individualism, and the apocalyptic Idea of social- 
ism with prophetic insight. The individualism of 
the heart religion of the Psalms and the socialism 
of the prophetic Idea and vision of the Kingdom 
were combined in Jesus of Nazareth with the unity 
of a unique religious experience and geneality. 
The fundamental tone of his religious life was the 
intimate union with God experienced by the pious 
poets of the Psalms. With Him it was clothddi in 
the image of the most natural and intimate bond of 
fellowship. It was the Ideal Type relation of 
Father and child, but this intimate union with God 
did not make Him indifferent to the world or to the 
needs of His people. He saw in God not only His 
own Father, but the Father of all personal Being. 
He believed in the destination of all to become 
actual children of Gdd. through trust and conform- 
ity to His Will. This hearty love to God was for 
Him tlie motive of active and patient love; it con- 
strained Himi to offer the rest and joy that was 



188 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

His in the consciousness of Divine Sonship, to all 
souls weary and heavy laden as a means of con- 
solation and salvation. His love awakened love in 
return ; His trust in God awakened the courage of 
faith; in the presence of the Eternal the evil spir- 
its of sin and insanity melted away, and the de- 
mons fled;. The humble and meek teacher became 
the Physician of the sick, the Leader of tfhe blind 
from their strayed condition back to the light of 
Truth, and set tihe captive free. Be not only 
recognized in these results proofs of the victorious 
power of the Divine Spirit, but the hope of the 
early coming of the Kingdom of God dawned as a 
certainty that its existence had already begun. 

The perfection in the principle of the Divine con- 
sciousness in Jesus was the redeeming power, ap- 
pearing in Him as personal life; and proceeding 
from Him is present and active as the Holy com- 
munistic spirit of Christendom. Whether the indi- 
vidual life is always the abbreviated repetition of 
the generic life, or an Ideal creation; and if it is 
true that the actualization of the human capacities 
in the individual is everywhere effected, only on 
the ground of their actuality in society, then it is 
a happy thought of Schleiermjacher to expand the 
different states of the religious consciousness into 
phases of the development of all religious human- 
ity, in the inner freedom and liberation of the 
Higher Self; that inner freedom that comes from 
the reconciliation of inner Stelf certainty and the 
personal spirit with the historical and communis- 
tic Spirit of Christendom. It is an Ideal, but it is 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 189 

not merely an Ideal without relational existence in 
Absolute Reality; it is a conception of Goodness, 
but not merely an ought-to-be-goo'd. expected to be 
realized from the subjective will, that was never 
capable of its task. The true good is the "universal 
rational will or divine Logos" realizing Self in the 
course of the history of humanity; and the highest 
point of this divine-human revelation has been at- 
tained in Christ, though it is by no means limited 
to Him in an historical appearance. It was pres- 
ent at the beginning of the Race. The rational 
capacity and the Image of God in man rests upon 
participation in the divine Logos. John for that 
very reason calls the Universal Type the Light of 
men, the light "which lighteth every man." Every 
step in the development of Divine personality, every 
thought rising to the light of truth, every good deed 
that advances antl. preserves the Moral Order is 
likewise " a revelation of the divine spirit which 
rdclleems us from crude nature and educates us 
into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God." Without doubt, the chief revelation of 
the Spirit has been the religious life of human- 
ity in all time. And the central form tower- 
ing above all else, is Jesus Christ and His Life 
work as " the decisive turning point, the regen- 
eration of humanity, the redemption." This does 
not exclude the recognition of redeeming heroes 
and instruments of the divine education of human- 
ity, in all the other benefactors, who have accom- 
plished what is great and fruitful in religion and 
morality, in art and science, in discoveries and in- 



190 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ventions. The collected fruit of all these deeds, 
conflicts, sacrifices and sufferings, which have con- 
tributed to further the spiritual development of the 
race, forms a rich treasure of grace transmitted 
from generation to generation by a most precious 
inheritance, the birthright of Wisdom! for the crown 
of Spiritual Life in the Life Eternal. 

The principal distinction between the Christian 
doctrine of the Creation and the Old Testament 
doctrine, is in the significant meaning attached to 
the divine Logos. The world was created through 
the Logos, but this no longer means a simple word 
of command. The Divine Spirit is active in the 
world and finds the culmination of His revelation 
in the Son of God. On this account the Son Him- 
self is designated as the Mediator and the final end 
of the Creation. The meaning of the New Testa- 
ment doctrine is rarely comprehended in its far- 
reaching significance. This is what might be na- 
turally expected when the min>d is not accustomed 
to distinguish between the divine Logos and the 
Man Jesus. The Logos and the Man forms a mys- 
tical union where the most subtle analysis cannot 
penetrate, but only experience. 

Greek art seeks the complete excellence of life, 
and attains the universal by making a type of the 
normjal. The higher the type, the nearer it ap- 
proaches a universal ideal, constituting a Self- 
activity of the subject not merely intellective or 
apperceptive, but also practical and conative ac- 
tivity. And the point has to be insisted upon that, 
"Not only is subjective synthesis indispensable 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 191 

before experience can really begin ; bur it is only 
by means of this synthesis, and the conative activ- 
ity by which it is prompted and sustained, that 
experience can advance and unfold." No doubt, in 
all such advance there is a constant reciprocity be- 
tween subject and object. To the subject belongs 
the initiative and leading principle, and with the 
development of experience the subject shows an 
ever increasing supremacy of activity. Association 
is freer than sensation, and thought is freer than 
both. Each of these different types of experience 
entail different degrees of voluntary effort. And 
the order of the degrees from lower to higher is 
characteristic of sensation, association and thought. 
When things conform to our thinking we call them 
intelligible, and they admit of being described in 
content or essence as ideal. Truth is most often 
reached by a series of approximations, but the law 
of its discovery is in seeking, and the main clue 
is one's own nature. The world may be judged 
more adequately with clearer Self-consciousness, 
then truer and more perfect categories may be em- 
ployed. Throughout it is a process of assimilating 
the non-ego to the Ego, not the Ego to the non-ego. 
From this point of view. Self-realization is the 
only way to advance. The most potent means of 
Self-realization is human society. "As iron sharp- 
eneth iron, so the countenance of man his fellow." 
It might be said that here first we transcend, in 
living and active associations, the narrow limits of 
individual experience, confined to perception, rem- 
iniscence, and expectation. Bain says, "The reso- 



192 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

lution of mystery is found in assimilation, identity, 
fraternity. " 

The truth embodied in Kant's transcendental 
unity of apperception, is the ultimate paradigm for 
this process. We have this truth in our own Self- 
consciousness. It is what we call Reason, and is 
found to be a universal experience to all Self-con- 
sciousness. The associationist may try to main- 
tain that "there is nothing in the mind that could 
not be developed by the individual for himself. He 
may be helped to his special associations by others, 
but he could do it all for himself." Heredity may 
try to explain both the individual element in the 
conscious living organism and also its relational 
element in the conscious life of others. But the 
social factor shows that when we have made every 
allowance for heredity in the evolutionist sense, 
and for experience in the associationist sense, we 
account for only a very little part of our knowl- 
edge. Knowledge is the basis of all experience, 
and what the knowledge of an individual comes to 
is not to be accounted for by accidental experience 
alone, nor by heredity nor by the original constitu- 
tion of the mind. When language is taken into 
consideration, knowledge is not to be resolved into 
terms of individualistic experience. Man's being 
is determined and shaped, largely by social circum- 
stances. The environment and mastering influ- 
ences of social traditions make the habits 1 and cus- 
toms of man, individual and social, practically 
what they are. When man has passed through the 
training imposed by society, he first begins to as- 



INI THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 193 

sert himself, and this social influence is exerted 
chiefly by the m|edium of language. Language has 
to be regarded as a natural, social product of the 
mind that is not elaborated by any one person ; it 
consists of expressions caught up between man and 
man that come to the current. This is a non-empir- 
ical factor within the sphere of sense; not merely 
a system of sounds, but also an a priori factor of 
knowledge. Hence there is no need to fall back 
on what is sometimes called pure intuitions and 
concepts that cannot be accounted; for. The child, 
for instance, thinks with concepts formed before 
his own experience with the world begins; his con- 
cepts to begin with have been developed, and in 
past times were different from what they are in the 
present world upon which he enters a life of ex- 
perience and self -consciousness. In general, the 
notion of the world efficiently and causally has at 
least in some degree been developed with the human 
race. And man finds himself in a world; where the 
means are immiediately present for working out 
a systematic theory of knowledge, beginning with 
the point of view of what may be called modern 
Experimentalism. Philosophy is not identical with 
science, but its problems should be solved as far 
as possible from a scientific point of view. 

In religious science and philosophy, when the 
great discovery was made, duly pondered and. real- 
ized, the question immediately arose, what is to be 
done with it? The Buddha shrinks from the work 
of preaching it to others. Brahma himself comes 
forth to encourage him to make his secret known 



194 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

to others, and to assure him that many will receive 
it with great joy. And, as the story goes, the 
Blessed One consents and thus replies : "Wide open 
is the gate of the Imjmortal to all who have ears to 
hear; let them send; forth faith to meet it. The 
teaching is sweet and good; because I despaired 
of the task, I spake not to men before." He turns 
his steps!, guided by his own supernatural knowl- 
edge, to the city of Benares, to seek the five monks 
who had formerly abandoned him. On his way 
thither he met a naked ascetic who asks the reason 
of his cheerful mien ; he answers that he has over- 
come all foes, has reached emancipation by the de- 
struction of desire and has obtained; Nirvana. "To 
found the kingdom of Truth I go to the city of the 
Kasis (Benares) ; I w r ill beat the drum of the im- 
mortal in the darkness of this world." The account 
which follows of the opening of the "kingdom of 
righteousness" presents many apologies to the early 
stages of other spiritual movements. The founder 
immovably sure of himlself and of his doctrines, 
goes from place to place, spending the rainy season 
in town, and preaching everywhere. It is at Be- 
nares that the "wheel of the law" is first set in 
motion ; there the first sermon was preached : "The 
noble Truth of the Path which leads to the Ces- 
sation of Suffering. The holy eightfold; Path. That 
is to say, Eight Belief, Bight Aspiration, Bight 
Speech, Bight Conduct, Bight Means of Livelihood, 
Bight Endeavor, Bight Memory, Bight Meditation." 
We have come to ask ourselves the question, 
What is experience? We are accustomed to think 



m THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 195 

that there must be a universal element in all ex- 
perience; otherwise we could not know that we 
have any experience at all. And experience may 
range all the way from finite or individual experi- 
ence to universal; but in all experience, universal 
as well as particular, there is that intimate artic- 
ulation of subjective and objective factors. What 
we call finite experience is our experience with 
finite beings, while what we call universal is that 
sympathetic and harmonious activity of thought 
and life that is the ideal relation of all life, and 
would appeal to all as a common living relation 
if they couKl be made to view it from that point 
of view which is in contact or active harmony 
with the Ideal kingdom! of a universal experience 
of life. What relation subjective 'color sensations, 
seeing color and space forms with closed eyes, etc., 
have to this type of experience is questionable. Miss 
Washburn has tried to investigate this problem 
and thinks they relate "simply to the influence of 
centrally excited sensations produced by such ef- 
forts upon the ordinary 'ringing off' of after- 
images," But the nine years that have followed 
since then have undoubtedly revealed many more 
facts of a like significant order. There is a certain 
attitu'cte that regards the true unity of life and 
mind and spirit in something higher than a mere 
idea — and believes that it is in an Ideal which 
has its home in the Life of the Universe, in the 
Mind of God. For instance, a mere so-called idea 
may be taken from one by the conduct and narrow- 
mindedness of a few supposed friends ; but an Ideal 



196 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

is a possession of one ; s own that cannot be touched., 
though this may be inhibited and prevented from 
appearing in free expression. As when the stilted 
theologian tackles one, who has presented a rather 
visionary and idealistic conception of the Origin 
and Nature of Ideals, on the point of the Law and 
the Prophets with a slightly different meaning 
attached to those terms of Law and Prophecy. 
Then when one emphasizes the spiritual elemfent of 
meaning over against the traditional, the stilted 
theologian hears the command from convincing 
authority: "Go to the Jews with your Moses." If 
refusing to take the command as an appointed task, 
he comes to the Greeks instead, his contention is 
placidly and; perhaps finally silenced by reference 
to what may be called intimate articulation of 
subjective and objective factors in all experience, 
whether it be religious or otherwise, universal or 
more particularly individual. No religion or ex- 
perience can run on long as a development, if it is 
extremely objective. The objective tends to become 
subjective, and the subjective, objective. The stilted 
theologian as a last resort may then urge the con- 
cluding remark, "Then you think religion subjec- 
tively lies at the basis of all Ideals." It is a remark 
probably slightly twisted from ultimate Truth, yet 
one with which the Idealist is glad to rest momen- 
tarily, though he may not quite agree with it. 
What part relativity hais to play in the historical 
origin of psychology is no little concern in the 
idealistic philosophy of religion. Whatever else 
it may be, it is unquestionably a logical relation. 



INi THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 197 

There may have been irrational elements involved 
as there are in all 'cosmic relations; but the irra- 
tional have to come to judgment before the type 
of perfect relativity in the presence of rational 
elements of experience. 

Ritchie in Mind on the Epistemological problem 
of Origin and Validity in Knowledge, makes use 
of the Aristotelian distinction between the origin 
of anything and its final cause or enkD which it 
comes to serve. This end or Ideal, as in knowledge, 
mtist be known before we can know the nature of 
the thing or concept. It is the duty of the logician 
not to "shirk an investigation of the conditions 
under which knowledge an'd nature and conduct 
are possible." It is said that "One of the chief 
characteristics of the 'metaphysical' stage of 
thought is its anxiety to vindicate the value of 
moral and other ideas by tracing them back to an 
origin which can be regarded as in itself great and 
dignified, whether the greatness and dignity be 
such as come from the clearness of reason or, as 
is often supposed, from the darkness of mystery." 
It is a fact regarding the individual mind, that 
ideas of peculiar importance, whether in logic or 
in morals, have been called "innate." Says one, 
"We have only to look deep enough to find them be- 
neath the superimposed crust of prejudice, experi- 
ence and conventional belief." There is often a 
strong temptation to regard the inexplicable or 
unexplained, the unanalyzable or unanalyzed, with 
peculiar veneration; and the feeling of jealousy 
and suspicion has not been absent from some minds, 



198 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

when there has been any attempt to examine the 
elements and origin of whatever is valued or aJd- 
mired. There may be an element of truth in the 
suspicion that most poets and some philosophers 
regard scientific analysis. It is a true instinct to 
warn against regarding a subject to have been dis- 
posed of when historically considered. But to deny 
the historical account entirely is not a true method. 
Innate Ideas, Inexplicable Intuitions, the scientific 
methods of analysis and theories of evolution miay 
be allowed complete validity. And the test of the 
real importance of ideas in logic, in ethics or in 
religion that have a history in the minds of the 
race and of the individual, may be decided by their 
truthfulness with reference to a knowledge of the 
Ideal as a standard of judgment. The essence of 
the transcendental proof which various systems of 
Metaphysical Idealism were feeling after ami'd 
many errors, is stated as follows: "If knowledge 
be altogether dependent on sensation, knowledge 
is impossible. But knowledge is possible; because 
the sciences exist. Therefore, knowledge is not 
altogether dependent on sensation." Science can- 
not be considered as a "history of the genesis of 
knowledge from sensations." 

Though the argument may not be recognized to 
imply a statement of a fact in psychology it is en- 
tirely logical, and its 'denial would involve expe- 
rience in contradiction. It is the ultimate argu- 
ment and will only be denied by the complete skep- 
tic. "To discover the a priori element in knowledge, 
i. e., that elemient which, though known to us only 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 199 

in connection with sense-experience, cannot be de- 
pendent on sense-experience for its validity, in the 
business of a philosophical theory of knowledge." 
And, if that is called a part of metaphysics, it is 
a metaphysics that cannot be dispensed with. Are 
there categories discovered, and should "Self-con- 
sciousness," "Ideality," "Substance," "Cause," 
"Time," "Space," be among them; to arrange these 
categories in a system, see their relations to one 
another and to the world of nature and of human 
action, will be the business of Philosophy or Meta- 
physics in a more universal sense, or meaning. This 
might be called Speculative Metaphysics, and the 
only test of the validity of a system of Speculative 
Metaphysics is its adequacy, to the explanation and 
arrangement of the whole universe as it becomes 
known to us. Hence, every thinker is of necessity 
a metaphysician. Psychologically considered, we 
are concerned with what actually goes on in the 
mind of any individual or of the average indi- 
vidual. Logically, it is the "rules or ideal stand- 
ards to which the mental processes of every one 
must conform if they are to attain truth." To- 
gether with Logic, there are two other Regulative 
Philosophical sciences — "Concerned respectively 
with those rules or ideals which must be fulfilled 
for the attainment of Beauty in Art, and with those 
which must be fulfilled for the realization of Good- 
ness in Conduct. The presupposition of knowledge 
was found to be the presence of a Self which is 
Eternal and which is yet never completely realized 
in any one," and thus "remains an Ideal perpe- 



200 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

tually urging to its realization." Hence we have 
a science of the Beautiful, Aesthetics and Religion. 
The presence of the Universal coefficient to all 
human effort must be recognized as involved with 
the presence of the Eternal Self. This Self is pre- 
supposed by any account of knowledge or conduct. 

What the Ideal at any time may be, is not so 
definitely known; but the content of the ideal is 
something for historical investigation. The iicteal 
varies, "else progress would be impossible. But 
there must be an ideal, a judgment of ought else 
morality would be impossible." The idea cannot 
be "complete till these ideals are complete, i. e., the 
growth of the idea of God," which miay be called 
the "revelation of God, is continuous and commen- 
surate with human progress." Yet "The value of a 
religious idea cannot be dependent upon an external 
authority of any kind, but sfolely on its own afdie- 
quacy to express, in a manner fitted to appeal at 
once to the intellect and the emotions!, the highest 
possible beliefs of the timie." And so far as "Chris- 
tianity is a system of spiritual doctrines and be- 
liefs about the relation between the soul of the indi- 
vidual and the Divine Spirit," — and this Spirit has 
a cosmic significanice — "it finds a philosophical 
counterpart and intellectual interpretation in 
Idealism." 

The relativity of knowledge in Metaphysical 
habits of thought and reflection requires that the 
Self shall grow by the acquirement of transcen- 
diental experience. And when the thoughts get 
cleared up by and by, the Individual Self has an 



IN THE PERCEPTION OP TRUTH 201 

opportunity to relate what lies nearest the heart 
of the mind, if he will. The aesthetic and social 
significance of the ontological value of Truth af- 
fords ample opportunity for dwelling on sentiments 
of this vital character. But Systematic Metaphy- 
sics has a supreme value of its own, and is more- 
over a profound discipline in free thought. As an 
idealist one is helped to get an anchor for faith. 
Hope is always an anchor, even when it leads on to 
belief and certitude. Absolute assurance is the hope 
and anchor of the Soul. Without hope there would 
be little peace, happiness, progress or satisfaction 
in the aesthetical Ideal. It makes possible the con- 
dition for inspiration and confidence that fits in a 
larger measure for the more strenuous work of a 
practical life. There is a judgment that theoretical 
knowledge of truth, cannot be overestimated as a 
preparation for any kind of specialized activity. 
It is the life of all true development in the higher 
order, and might be called the two-edged sword 
that pierces to the dividing of soul and spirit, dis- 
tinguishing those who belong to the spirit of life in 
a royal Kingdom of personal Being that crowns 
all worthy combinations of thought and feeling 
in the constant realization of Ideals. A study in 
Metaphysics validates and makes stronger a con- 
stantly growing, ever-present conviction, so char- 
acterized, of the Unity of life in the Ideal, and the 
subordination of that which is imperfect to the 
Perfect Reality that constitutes the essence of all 
life and being. This is the logical result, however 
far consciousness by immediate interpretation of 



202 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

appearances alone may be removed from immediate 
experience of such truth that lives in the heart, 
which is the real Self ever present in all the mind's 
aictivity. There is probably a well-defined distinc- 
tion in many minds between experience, specula- 
tion, and reflective experience. Again, reflective 
experience may indeed be regarded as the most 
valid and truest kind of experience a person can 
have. Other experiences, so-called, blend into 
phenomenalism and their chief value is in giving 
expression to the true and higher experience worthy 
the name of a Self. If a few personal references 
will be pardoned, they may make more clear this 
metaphysical point of view. 

I used to wonder why I never experienced any 
great changes such as I heard others talk of re- 
ligiously as something they called conversion. The 
fundamental principles of an ethico-religious life 
always absorbed my chief interests and thoughts. 
During the later years of my college course, I 
came in contact with some of the best idealistic 
philosophy and fell in great admiration with this 
through my literary rambles. A year's work later 
showed to my satisfaction more or less that I had 
imbibed a great deal of the spirit of the Kantian 
philosophy. And the close of my last year in the 
Theological Seminary marked a crisis that resulted 
in a completely changed* point of view, that threw 
doubt on the being or reality of the external world. 
I had to guard against complete solipsism, and 
came to the conviction that there is a point w T here 
so-called evolution, which had been absorbing in- 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 203 

terest for some time, breaks up into what might be 
called pure activity, or personal idealism that con- 
stitutes an entirely different sphere of development 
according to a law in the life of the spirit. There 
was a period during that crisis, if I may refer to it, 
that threw 'doubt on most everything except the 
reality of the Ideal Self. Thinking in a certain 
mode, a moment seemed as eternity ; again eternity 
as a moment when it is past. Consciousness oscil- 
lated between that class of phenomena (dependent 
on the law of gravitation, such as musicular sensa- 
tion, and that class of phenomena we may term the 
construction of an Ideal Space. When I had tame to 
think over it, and especially a systematic study of 
Metaphysics later, confirmed and strengthened cer- 
tain attitudes and points of view, — namely, to 
regard the external type of Being a reality in sio 
for as it is the expression of Ethical, Aesthetical, 
Absolute Being ; and we know the Self co-conscious 
with this Being of the World. When we have 
realized the perfect Ideal of Truth, from the point 
of view of personal absolute knowledge, we then 
only begin to know wh&t life is and its significance, 
with the recognition of the limitless opportunities, 
possibilities and scope of personal Being. 

Kant's skeptical trend of thought had by necess- 
ity from his limited point of view to express itself 
in the doctrine of antinomies. When we are told 
that knowledge is phenomenal we may expect the 
charge of subjectivity from that phenomenalistic 
point of view which discerns not reality in that 
sphere of reality where knowledge constitutes the 



204 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ground and activity of tike Being of the World. 
So-called antinomies when critically examined 
show themselves contradictory and unreal. They 
are the result of confounding the two forms of the 
Hand's activity. Phenomenalism is regarded as 
false when taken as an ultimate point of view. Ex- 
perience from the very beginning is ontological ; the 
Ego asi active is present in every content of con- 
sciousness. In sense experience we pierce through 
the shell of phenomenalism and know reality of the 
external type of experience in the world as well as 
the subjective Eeality of the Self. 

When we come to regard subjectivity as Kant 
has influenced the conception, one of the first in- 
quiries is and should be whether the fundamental 
categories, etc., are in harmony. Harmony at the 
basis of all knowledge is objectively valid and real 
knowledge. The outer world of things conforms 
to the world of mind. The mind legislates for the 
world. The other is the empiricist's position, who 
claims that the mind conforms to the world of 
of things. When the laws of one correspond to 
the other, we enter the theisitic position 'where 
in truth there is no evidence of contradiction. The 
true theistic position is a life at peace with Self 
arid! with the World, and a perceptive view of Uni- 
versal Harmony. Any other supposition renders 
knowledge impossible, for knowledge of the real is 
a fact of self-consciousness, while for the simple 
object consciousness there is immediate experience 
of a "will that Will® not as I will." This mind 
does not transend its categories ; if it did, it would 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 205 

"require a new set of categories; and then who 
would sit in judgment on these?" The rationality 
of nature is inkleed one of the most fundamental 
assumptions. The rational universe is; the com- 
plement of the Infinite. It involves the principle of 
efficient cause, and this is implied in all scientific 
procedure. 

As J. B. Baillie maintains in a study of the 
origin and significance of Hegel's Logic, "The 
maintenance of the supremacy of mind is simply 
the other side to, has its necessary complement, the 
complete and detailed exhibition of this supremacy 
throughout all reality. It means that this mind is 
to embrace its object. It is not to exclude it (that 
would be dualism) ; nor to negate it (that would 
be solipsism; nor to be on a level with it (that 
would be the Indifferentism of Schelling) ; it is to 
contain it in itself." This is Idealism, and to 
solve this problem and establish the position led 
Hegel to write the Phenomenology of Mind. New 
science, indeed, has a very intimate relation with 
logic. "If Logic is this ultimate and absolute 
science par excellence, it is clear that it will ceas& 
to be distinct from and to lie outside 'Metaphysic,' 
and will become an independent and self-depen- 
dent science. It will, again, cease to be divisible 
into Logic of understanding and Logic of reason; 
will cease to be a 'negative Logic of reflection,' 
and will become in very deed the all-embracing 
science with a single absolute method — will be 
Speculative Philosphy in its truest form." Hegel's 
Logic was something new given to the world of his 



206 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

time. Does Absolute Idealism eliminate the dis- 
tinction between subject and object? If so, how 
and in what sphere of thought? Is there not a 
distinction to take its place, and fulfill a new or'dler 
of active relations in True Being? What are the 
conditions for admission and entering on this new 
order of life, of ideal thought experience? It re- 
quires isomathing, at least, that may be partly 
suggested and described by the wedding ring, and 
the wedding garment, whatever else. If the actuat- 
ing Idea clothed itself with a full consciousness of 
what its final realization would be, the distinction 
between idea and realization might, indeed, be at an 
end. Since for this reason it is impossible to say 
what the perfecting of man in its actual attainment 
might be, we can discern certain conditions it must 
fulfill, if it is to satisfy the Idea. The Idea actuates 
the moral life, and must be a perfecting of man 
rather than any mere human faculty in abstrac- 
tion, or of any imaginary individuals in that de- 
tachment from social relations in which they would 
not be personal Beings at all. There is a justi- 
fication in holding that it could not be attained in 
a life of mere scientific and artistic activity, any 
more than in one of "practical" exertion from 
which those activities were absent. There is a 
further claim : "The life in which it is attained 
mlust be a social life, in which all men freely and 
consciously co-operate, since otherwise the possi- 
bilities of there nature, as agents who are ends in 
themselves, could not be realized in it; and as a 
corollary of this, that it must be a life determined! 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 207 

by one harmonious will — a will of all which is the 
will of each." Such a will has been called in 
Green's Philosophy a devoted will, denoting a will 
for its object, the perfection which it alone can 
maintain. In treating of the Moral Ideal, this is 
the condition of individual virtue. Such a will in 
being formal is not determined by an abstract idea 
of law, but it implies a whole world of beneficent 
social activities, sustained and co-ordinated. These 
activities pursued by a will for their own sake as 
its own fulfilment, indicate a will rightly taken 
to be in principle the perfect life; a life perhaps 
unknown to human activities except in principle. 

Green regards this as the end of morality. If it 
were the end of morality, it would indeed be only 
the realization of the Moral Ideal, in which moral 
activities and relations are held in perfect sym- 
metry and orderly balance of free, spontaneous, 
volitional expression of a perfected system of per- 
sonal and social relations. It would be ethico- 
religious thought, feeling and reflection acted out 
in philosophic and artistic expression; personal 
Life, genius of Art, Absolute Self-consciousness. 

The Self that knows itself in its own Idea, and 
realizes itself in its own notion is absolute knowl- 
edge ; and may with due reverence be called knowl- 
edge of the Content of Absolute Mind by Absolute 
Mind as perfect and final knowledge. This is true 
Science. Not merely knowledge about mind, nor in 
another sense simply a knowledge for mind; it is 
a form or mode of Mind that is absolute knowl- 
edge. The Highest mode of mind is literally con- 



208 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

verted or convertible with Absolute Knowledge; 
because it is a dealing with knowledge as a living 
activity, an active procedure not as a product. 
Here, then, Absolute Mind is -completely explicit 
and concretely realized. With this it is clear that 
the standpoint of Absolute Mind has been fully and 
unequivocally adopted by Hegel. But this knowl- 
edge of which we speak has no actual limiting ref- 
erence to individual finite niiind. It is without re- 
serve infinite and perfect knowledge to be acquired 
with a right and proper attitude. 

Sweidenborg's life is an excellent example of a 
life that represents that of the converted sinner, 
who revels in a humfamistic experience and dwells 
on conceptions that are colored and mixed up with 
psycho-physicial notions and ideas and perceptions ; 
then by some miraculous power from above is sud- 
denly resolved into a kind of vanishing point of a 
humanistic personality. His i'dieas and perceptions 
and unity of experience in the lower psycho-phy- 
sical centers and a/ctivities fly apart as if by a rare 
and high degree of mental life and activity in which 
he does not feel or know himself as the master of 
conscious ideas, perceptions or circumstances ; and 
then he has a very high type of experience that 
impresses him with the emiotion of awe and rever- 
ence that lapses entirely into blind credulity as he 
observes in a passive way the phenomena, of the 
spiritual life which he does not logically under- 
stand or appreciate except by contemplation, clair- 
voyance and eestfasy. He gets tanglddi in a mess of 
mysticism when he cannot maintain the unity of 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 209 

experience on that high level of spiritual joy and 
bliss and ecstatic vision. He still clings to his 
old psycho-physical notions and then he errs greatly 
to the mystical humanism that is so detrimental to 
the higher order of mental and spiritual life of the 
individual and social consciousness, that is the 
due possession or inheritance of the Heaven-born 
personality. He perceives the activity and knowl- 
edge of the higher order of life as angelic wisdlom. 
And herein is the principal value of his work. He 
view^s this life and ethico-spiritual relationis from 
the outside : but his perceptions seem clear because 
he is honest, sincere and reverential. In all his 
religious experience he shows the frankness of a 
childlike faith and humble attitude of receptive- 
ness to the inspiration and communication of the 
Heavenly influences. It is a religious attitude 
rather than a philosophical. Hence the difference 
between the simple religious votary and the true 
philosopher. 

The philosopher represents the angelic type of 
Being in actual experience. And it is his privilege 
to Hio the will of his Heavenly Father, by experienc- 
ing an actual co-conscious identity of relationships 
and activities. The philosopher does not as a con- 
sequence perceive these truths about actual Being 
in the same w^ay, though he is thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the Divine Love and Wisdom de- 
scribed by the mystic in the forms of a refined and 
spiritualized imagination, characteristic of the 
mystic seer under the higher influence of Self-con- 
scious Spirit, Swedenborg represents an effort bo 



210 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

unite science and religion, but his works are like 
sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. He admits 
a human point of view, and what right has any 
human being to talk about the Life and nature of 
angels. The Divine Love and Wisdom Can be 
known only by angels and the Christian philosopher 
with a rational faith and constructive imagination 
in Ideal experience. When we enter the realm of 
true Love and Wisdom, the world of description 
finds no place, discursive thinking is gone. Men 
live and act in the world of pure thought; and 
the life itself is Love and Wisdom, that is called 
Divine. They are philosophers 1 . To understand all 
mysteries and yet speak with the tongues of men 
and of angels,, and if they have not the principal 
Christian virtue they have a questionable existence. 
Love is the vanishing point between the human 
and the Divine. Some with an eccentric, restless 
impulse either degrade and obscure its meaning in 
human forms of thought, or else sail away into 
blind credulity little better than the abyss of human 
imagination that attempts to [describe things which 
are indescribable. The Life of a self-conscious 
Spirit is the Life of Divine Love and Wisdom, whose 
limits are nowhere and whose presence is every- 
where : like kings who govern and those who philos- 
ophize. It is the unity of personality ; the link that 
connects truth and light; the uniting bond and 
dynamic power of intellectual and spiritual quali- 
ties of intellect and will. Perhaps, like the vision 
of Ezekiel, it is a variety of the type of Ideal Ex- 
perience that is limitless and of an infinitely ver- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 211 

s&tile character — spaceless and timeless, yet the 
reality of time and space. 

A poet aware of the relation of love anld. faith, 
declared : 
"Love is a lock that linketh noble minds, 

Faith is the key that shuts the spring of love." 
An'd: "If men love because they believe and be- 
lieve because they love, life becomes an unalloyed 
delight, "It is the quality of delight in conscious 
living relations with the Eternal, that transcends 
mere duty and the sense of moral limitations in (the 
conception of spiritualized Being. 



PART IX. 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ETHICAL 
CONCEPTION OF SELF. 

Religion among the Greeks was a high type of 
humanistic polytheism, until among the later, phil- 
osophers and intellectual classes it beteame some- 
thing like Monotheism, approaching the Jewish and 
Christian type. It possessed special elements in 
its rarer and more spiritualized manifesitaitions 
through the life of Greek idealists and moral teach- 
ers. And these special elements are highly estimat- 
ed by the Christianized! world. Religion among the 
Greeks had a practical aim. It was a part of their 
everyday life, their pleasures! and delights, their 
joys anid sor row's, their duties in relation to fellow 
men and to the gods — in peace, in war anli; in na- 
tional growth, it was the hope: of easy going pros- 
perity. It was not exactly a free conception they 
were constantly holding to in their fanciful crea- 
tions of the imagination for poetry and art; espe- 
cially in, the earlier state of life and siociety, was 
it rathler that of a propitiatory attitude and fearful 
servitude. They were fearful, or over-religious, lest 
they should offend or neglect one or some of the 
gods. They believed that the gods shared in all 
their activities and were either 'delighted or 
off ended by thq condufat and petty contrivances of 
the political and social life. Their religious 



IN THE PEBCEPTION OF TRUTH 213 

thoughts, opinions and motives never got very far 
from their self -centered individual lives 1 . Were it 
possible to obtain and retain; a perfect moral and 
physical beauty, the Ideal of the early Greek would 
be realized. They haid not attained the high de- 
gree of ethical Love so fundamental in the Chris- 
tian Ideal. They placed much emphasis on being 
skilled in cunning devices of intellectual shrewd- 
ness, and if any one was ignorant enough to be de- 
ceived or cheated in a moral transaction or relation 
he got his due deserts. When the government of 
Greece began to drift toward icteniocracy, it was the 
decline of religious sentiment and flilial piety. 
Some of the reformers tried to build up the de- 
cline in religious devotion and interests by using 
the fine arts in sculpture and architecture, to make 
more beautiful temples and miaintain an interest 
in the right of moral imperative, and the ceremonies 
and rites that were so prominent a feature of the 
older forms of religious activity. The great law- 
yer, Solon, tried to prevent the government from 
becoming a democracy, or from going into an ab- 
solute aristocracy. He tried to maintain a happy 
balance of power or means between the two — a 
refined aristocracy that is at the same time liberal 
in its feelings of a. moral quality that Vould tend 
to do away with the rigid and formal class distinc- 
tions, based entirely on heredity and other exter- 
nal forms of national and social positions, that were 
not the merit of a true, worthy character of ster- 
ling qualities or the result of moral endeavor in 



214 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the realization of the higher life by actual ethical 
and spiritual relations. 

The religion of the Greeks; was primarily ethical 
and temporal, with us religion is a combined) rela- 
tion of the ethical and spiritual, and is with re- 
spect to its final outcome and ultimate types of 
perfection an eternal life. The Greek religion wais 
for this life; the Christian Eeligion is not only for 
this life, but for all life in an; eternal world that 
is God's world and our would. The one who par- 
ticipates in the Christian Ideal finds religion is 
not only for success and prosperity in a temporal 
life, but that it is far more efficacious and vital as 
an educator and development of the Eternal Life in 
the validity of human experience, man's true in- 
heritance. What shows the intimiate articulation of 
subjective and objective factors that prevails not 
only in a materialistic interpretation of experience, 
but is evident in a truer sense in the idealistic of 
conceptional experience as well a® perceptual, is 
the fine proportion and symmetry of form in the 
ideal of true manhood and in the aesthetic ideals 
manifest in Greek art and architecture. They are 
unsurpassed by any other nation of like opportu- 
nity or people of similar adaptations. No Ideal 
or religion can long remain subjective, but it seeks 
an expression in outwardi life and activities of indi- 
vidual and national significance. 

The Jewish idea of government was theocratic. 
The Law was recognized by the pious Israelite as 
the true source and rule of right action, and his 
conduct in siociety and individual relations with 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 215 

the Divine was influenced by his fundamental be- 
lief that they were God's chosen one's for the pres- 
ervation of the true religion. 

They had a feeling of separateness from the 
Divine and constantly felt the need of doing some- 
thing to keep the favor of the God whom they rev- 
erenced and worshiped as their Creator, Ruler and 
Redeemer in times that were and in times to come. 
In time, the pious Israelite came to regard the law 
and the prophets as the true food of the soul, and 
as the tree of life; and in the Individualism of 
the Psalms, the law is regarded as expressing the 
whole nature of God. And the social Ideal of the 
Kingdom is closely allied with the prophetic sig- 
nificance that at first sprung from the feeling that 
the laws of God were not practically regarded and 
respected as they deserved to be, and as it was in- 
cumbent on the nation to observe for their owm 
welfasre. They, as a people, were self-centered, and 
their -conceptions everywhere were coloredi, if they 
had any aesthetic value at all, by what they de- 
sired for self. They feared Jehovah, and it was: out 
of this fear that the development of their religious 
attitude was stimulated to the higher and more 
universal feeling and attitude of sonship and trust- 
ful relations 1 that culminated in love and in the 
Messianic Ideal of the fulfilment of the social Idieal 
as a reconciled relation of Father and Son. 

They believed God to be a just God who could 
not look upon iniquity with any degree of pleasure, 
and that he would reward the just and punish the 
wicked. This idea of justice came probably before 



21G LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the conception of a Loving God. They everywhere 
were brought faice to faice with its manifestations!. 
They lookeldi upon nature as rugged and governed 
by inevitable laws; and they heard the voice of 
God speaking in the storm and in all those sub- 
lime and awe-inspiring elements, that would surely 
inspire the mind characteristic of the Jewish peo- 
ple with a reverential attitude. The Idea of Love 
had its first legal expression in the Law; Love to 
God and Love to man. This was the refining in- 
fluence evident in all the more sacred and fondly 
cherished writings. It was a step from their ma- 
terialistic temperament to the Idealistic and poetic 
and transcendent world of the immediate presence 
of God in the heart, and from the heart there sprang 
the spontaneous and free expression of God's lov- 
ing and watchiful eye over all the interests of the 
individual as w^ll as the nation. It finds its free- 
est expression in many of the Psalms and in those 
prophetic writings concerning a high hope and 
trusting confidence in the coming Messiah, and the 
Kingdom to be established. Their conception of 
the Kingdom, however, did not seem to reach a 
sufficiently spiritualized degree of perception to 
recognize the true nature of such a social order as 
universally unlimited to any particular place, na- 
tion or people, or individual. Then their expecta- 
tions were supplementeldi by the comiplete revela- 
tion of its nature through the one who came to them 
as their long-looked for redeemer and savior. But 
he came declaring a doctrine that wais new to them 
and destructive to their materialistic and temporal 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 217 

conceptions of a Kingdom of God after the manner 
of their own subjective ideals and formulated con- 
ceptions. 

The Jew had a vivid sense of unrighteousness 
anld) sin. They attributed it to a fall allegorically 
set forth in the story of Genesis and Creation, 
though it expressed to them the true, bare fact of 
a relation which they discovered as evident in all 
their political, social, individual and religious at- 
titudes with respect to man and God. They were 
keenly aware of the opposition between the finite 
and the Infinite, and they hoped and yearned for 
the original constitution and re-establishment of 
a perfect harmony, a vision of the new heavens and 
the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 
This is characteristically set forth in the prophetic 
expressions and revelations of the free spirit in that 
age represented by the prophets. 

The Kingdom of God was often regarded in a 
materialistic temporal sense, rarely in its true and 
Christian meaning, except probably in the Indi- 
vidualistic Social Ideals pervading the poetic wait- 
ings. It seems to have been regarded as a Kingdom 
for the present world. In its true sense it is not 
only for this world but for the eternal world that 
is more significantly represented as the Kingdom 
of Heaven. The prophetic conception of the Mes- 
siah was philosophical, social, legal and spiritual. 
"The government shall be upon his shoulder: and 
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, 
The Mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince 
of Peace." 



218 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

A government needs to have the interests of the 
individuals that are so organized as to constitute 
a governmental system, at heart. The central prin- 
ciple and aim must be to look after the welfare 
of the society made up of the individuals and ac- 
tivities of the socially related Beings under its 
control. And then co-operative help and interests 
of the individual minds so organized and organ- 
ically related is essential to miaintain a govern- 
ment on that high ethical standard of efficacious 
administration and permanent excellence that con- 
stitutes the life of an organized society in govern- 
ing relations that operate smoothly without jarring 
discord. 

In primitive tribal governments that were very 
simple and inadequate except for the needs of a 
very simple social order, where unreflective spirit- 
ism or realism was the prevailing tendency and 
attitude of the minds, there was not much atten- 
tion paid to the perfecting of organization that has 
a versatile and reciprocal adaptation to the free- 
dom! of adjustment and administrative ability re- 
quired to meet the demands of a more complex 
siocial) life. Consequently a government cannot 
be a static affair, but mlust keep pace with the de- 
mands of the times, as life becomes more and more 
complex. Government founded on conquest or on 
aristocratic privilege is not necessarily illegitimate. 
But it may come to be illegitimate if it fails in this 
organizing tendency and afdlaptation to the needs 
and spirit of the age of its immediate present. 
The government of Rome was founded on con- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 219 

quest; the Romans were a conquering people, and 
that was their mission as a race. If they had not 
been conquerors they would not have been Romans. 
Their conquests, however, might have been of a 
different order, but the world to be conquered in 
that age was not of the type that required a differ- 
ent kinjd! of conquest. Hence, the fine and elaborate 
system of law and governmental organization: that 
characterizes the Roman may be a very legitimate 
one for that age, but very illegitimate for other 
epochs of history. The Greek was an aristocratic 
government in its most flourishing times ; and there 
is not a finer epoch of an intellectual and artistic 
age of fine art on record. The Greek aristocracy 
became a democracy and Athens fell, lost her glory, 
was led captive by the conquering Roman, and then 
Greek culture and taste was diffused by the subtle 
influence of attractive ideals and the fine dialectic 
of a free spirit. It was the glory of the Greek 
but the destruction of the Roman, becausej his 
conquering (disposition degraded those fine spiritual 
influences instead of allowing them to elevate him 
to the same hi^h standard, which well characterizes 
their sphere of natural, free and spontaneous ex- 
pression in life. 

The Greek aristocraicies undoubtedly had their 
origin and owed the quality of their spirit to the 
Homeric Poems, as the most active, concrete and 
direct influence; but more generally to the activity 
of the free imagination characteristic of the Greek 
mind, with the poetic instincts that are evident in 
the beginnings of all literary temperaments. It has 



220 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

been natural for poetry to come first in the spon- 
taneity of literature and the art of expression, be- 
coming more complex until they assume a philos- 
ophical turn. The prospective becomes; retrospec- 
tive and reflective until in time the restrospective 
tand reflective becomes legal and administrative in 
governmental relatioms. With the Greeks it was 
the inspiration of genius; with others, especially 
the Hebrews, it 'has been acknowledged as the ac- 
tive authority of the Divine Reason and Love fulfill- 
ing a design. With the Jew it was thought to be ra- 
cial and historical ; with the Greek cosmical and! na- 
tural expression of beauty in the forms of the world 
interpreted by the poetic imagination. Then the 
character of the Athenean democracy suddenly 
gaineldi authority, but it lacked the fine spirit and 
discernment characteristic of the aristocratic 
Greek. Mien of high Ideals of right and order re- 
sisted by trying to retain the finer element of the 
elite society. Lawyers of sincere convictions and 
far-reaching vision warned them in vain ; they were 
treading in! the footsteps! of the fox, and their de- 
sire of gain ruined them!. Athens became a demo'c- 
racy and fell. 

If the Greek morality was natural, intellectual 
and not sufficiently social, it was probably due to 
the imperfect governmental organization. It was 
a liberal life and! perhaps law was not regarded 
with sufficient sanctity. The Greeks were a lying 
people and (cared little for practical truthfulness. 
On the basis of such a spirit no substantial organi- 
zation of legal rights could be built up or united 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 221 

in a system of practical executive ability that would 
have authority and valid influence in ordering the 
affairs and relations of a society. The democracy 
was self-centered in the ideal of producing the 
greatest good for the greatest number; and, by tihe 
influence of a few unscrupulous leaders, enticing 
allurements of political glamour were held before 
the eyes of the common people. Enthusiastic 
plebeians attracted them, to their destruction. They 
were victims of deceit because the way seemed 
easier and more pleasant and gratifying to materi- 
alistic ideais and illusory fancies. Ideals were 
trailed in the sordid dust of defeat. * 

Paganism was rational for the Stoics as a rigikl/, 
cold universal order of abstract truth. The Univer- 
sal Reason was all in all with the Stoic. He was 
an ascetic in contrast with the Epicure. For the 
Platonist there was something of the Stoical spirit 
of rigidity in the realm of ideas, but the Platonic 
conceptions were finer, higher, freer and more 
aesthetic. Truth for the Platonist meant mjore 
than the cold, impassive universal reason. Platonic 
Truth was clothed in living and vital relations, 
and had form, color, feeling and activity. The 
Platonist was a mystfc in his rationalism, and could 
, ascend to the heights of ecstasy ; yet his assent to 
truth had not sufficient balance and) poise of spirit 
to maintain consciousness on that high order of 
life called the eternal. It was his ambition, how- 
ever, to be able to do so. This, he believed, would 
be salvation. Christianity is an advance over this. 
It offers life in the Eternal and at the same time 



222 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

admits 1 the Platonic ideal of high thinking Abso- 
lute Creative Will. The Ideal is perceived as ra- 
tionall by attainment of the power of self-poise 
characteristic of a pure life of Reason united with 
the imagination: — wings of thought that know no 
limits and are determined by absolute knowledge 
and clear perception of a definite and fixed pur- 
pose, fulfilling the Immanent, Idea of a life. 

The moral regeneration distinctive of Christian- 
ity should not be regarded as too much of a devel- 
opmental character that classifies religion as com- 
ing fromi below up. The living manifestation of 
Christ with his little company of followers had an 
immediate and (direct influence of personal contact 
and the doctrines need to be considered and judged 
in the light of their own time. Then they are known 
by the discerning mind and spirit to be the revela- 
tions of Universal Tiruth and a life and 'doctrine of 
a religion thait is universally valid. They have 
ontological value not dependent on a life in a world 
of finite activity in a finite time series, of finite 
repetition or succession. These manifestations in 
time always help and add to the complex life of 
a free spirit in the ever increasing complexity of 
a life characteristiic! of the Absolute Present, which 
is never static but infinitely free through perfect 
harmony with the Absolute Will of Creative Be- 
ing, Creative Mind ; a conception partly defined by 
pure activity and ethical perfection, yet an Ideal 
such as there are no terms adequate for its ex- 
pression. The (doctrines of the Incarnation and 
the Atonement have had variousi degrees of signi- 



IN THE PEKCEPTION OF TRUTH 223 

ficance in the Church. It is believed that the Spirit 
had to become incarnate in degenerate human na- 
ture and suffer the penatly to redeem humanity 
and establish a right relation with God, which re- 
lation humanity lost in a fall from grace. Much 
polemical theological discussion has been waged 
on these grounds. Whatever mlay be the truth at 
this point does not concern the essence of true 
religion except to reconcile the stubborn mind of 
a wayward life that has become involved) in a kind 
of solipsistic or sophisticated skepticism charac- 
teristic of Judaism and the so-called orthodox 
theologian that is hardly worthy of a higher claim 
than the empirical rationalist. There is an incar- 
nation of the Spirit of God in life and the atone- 
ment is the relation of at-one-ment with God, in 
life and in thought fulfilling the ultimtate design 
and final expression of Absolute beauty, perfec- 
tion and order in the Infinite variety of transcen- 
dent consfciousness in thought and experience by 
Self-realization in and through a perfectly har- 
monious relation with the Other that is sought by 
every conscious Idea expressed in life or element 
of the ordered universe. Perhaps it is not hard to 
observe that there are some pagan elements in the 
moral ideals and practices of Christendom. These 
are particularly evident in some narrow minds who 
believe and practice incantations, and seek to ac- 
complish by prayer what they could work out in 
a more effective and beautiful way by active anidl 
positive thinking and constructive helpfulness in 
charity and sympathetic power of an imJmanent 



224 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

Divine Love. The law of Self-saicrifice is a Chris- 
tian principle, but it is supplanted by the law of 
dimijiishing self-sacrifice in the higher order of 
Christian experience. The paganism that is left 
as a trace in this principle is the unchristian belief 
that something must be sacrificed for the Self. It 
is a direct opposite of the true Christian; virtue of 
self-sacrifice which is the way of entering tlhe life 
where the cross is changed to a crown of glory 
and power and positive saving grace, that is a Love 
strengthening the weak and at the same time 
strengthening the strong. Merely human love 
strengthens the weak but weakens! the strong. 
Divine Love strengthens the weak and dbes not 
weaken the strong. In this finer activity of Ethi- 
cal Love, it is both blessed to give and to receive; 
but it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. 

The spirit of the Reformation shows everywhere 
the reacting attitude of the reformers against 
Romanism, and in a certain sense this spirit might 
be described by "anticlericalism" in: respect to the 
opposition manifest toward the more ecclesiastical 
orders of the Church. Thisi was extended to the 
Roman Catholic countries even after the critical 
mioment of the Reformation: was effectively passed. 
There was a recognized tendency for the layman 
to resent the clique-like authority of the clergy 
wtfien it became too formal and lacked the spiritual 
interests and welfare of the Church or society at 
large. Then "Sectarianism" sprung up, consisting 
of different little religious factions that might be 
constituted of both clergy and laymen independent 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 225 

of any regard of the relation internal in the organ- 
ization of religions belief. And it is natural to 
suppose that it soon favored and assumed the 
superiority and authority prerogative of clerical- 
ism. Teutonic idealism assumed a somewhat dif- 
ferent character in that it tenldled to be of a sub- 
jective movement and probable mystical order. It 
was evident in a large majority of the German 
thinkers, who have been decided influences in phil- 
osophy and religion. Luther is probably one of the 
best examples of the religious thinker of this type 
who was influenced largely by feeling and thus led 
into a high degree of idealism; in its practical rela- 
tion to life and religious interests. He emphasized 
the doctrine of salvation by faith as the more sig- 
nificant tenet of the Protestant Church; and] it is 
probably the best part of a practical religion in 
a humjanistic sense. But there are higher and more 
positive and more effective working influences of 
transcendental activities in other thinkers of the 
reformation type. Melanchthon, Calvin, Zwingly, 
Knox, are often neglected by the too exclusively 
humanistic religious votaries. Their work and part 
in the Reformation was probably as much of a re- 
vision or reformation of Lutheranisim as Luther- 
anism was a reformation or a reforming element in 
Catholicism. Where Lutheranism would degrade 
and destroy the Spiritual element of religion, these 
great reformers save and exalt the spiritual con- 
ception, and send it ringing down through the ages 
with a clear and immortal tone to the ear of Truth 
and) the mind of Wisdom, in the religious and social 



226 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

order of the human world tihiat has eyes to see and 
ears to hear, and both hear and see. But somie 
haying eyes, see not; and having ears, hear not. 
There is, however, another side to the spiritual life 
represented in the ethical views of Aristotle, 
Hobbes and Kant. These are about as different 
and various in their nature, principles and funda- 
mental doctrines as possible; yet they all seem) to 
have their mission in a world! seeking the Light 
of Truth. While their commission represents the 
activity of free choice, their free choice and activity 
in thought points either affirmatively or negatively 
to tlie One Absolute Teleologitcal Principle of the 
Spiritual Life. 

Aristotle claimed reciprocal relations of a true 
friendship and the moral good. He emphasized 
the Principle of Perfection, and this he found ex- 
pressed in nature to a very elaborate extent. His 
philosophy is a close study and careful analysis 
of nature in the light of the wisdom and reflective 
knowledge of his time and possibilities of expe- 
rience. Consequently his niatuiral philosophy is 
the niost significant of his writings. He makes 
a (division in his cosmical conception between the 
natural and the supernatural, but is more con- 
cerned with the natural. Life and human expe- 
rience for him is a mixture of natural and super- 
natural elements. And true friendship is possi- 
ble between the good. Hobbes is extremely ma- 
terialistic in his ethical conceptions, since his phil- 
osophy is a form) of disguised materialism. It 
lands his thinking in an abyss of human imagi- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 227 

nation extensively projected in his Leviathan of 
the Commonwealth. It is a marked contrast 
with ethical Idealism, and has little value or mean- 
ing for a system of constructive Ideal Experience 
in ethical relations; except as a contrast effect, if 
that were desirable, to stimulate a repulsive atti- 
tude an/dl send the student of ethics into a position 
of Absolute Idealism characterized by the union 
of Ethics and Religion. Kant is a type of Ethical 
Rfealism that attempts to be practical. His failures 
in ascending from sensuous intuitions caused a 
crisis in his system of thought, but at the sarnie 
time he wanted to be (consistent. His method in Pure 
Reason clung to the position of Hobbes too closely 
to admit his successful attempt at a complete 
synthesis of knowledge. Hisi Critique of Pure 
Reason based on a. deduction of the categories of 
the understanding is decidedly epistemological, 
and his experience gives place to reflective think- 
ing to the extent that he finally doubts the reality 
of the knowledge of things, and is more or less 
skeptical as to the knowledge of the Self. His con- 
ception of the Self does not break through the shell 
of his own little world of ideas and intuitions that 
he recognizes as somehow getting into the under- 
standing. His conception of the ego occupies a 
position between the world of things and the world 
of idleas. In his discussion of the theory of morals 
in the Practical Reason, he has to admit a place 
not bridged over by his antinomies and then starts 
with, the conception of Freedom, Immortality and 
God, and makes it an aim to try to get to the 



228 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

senses again if possible. His failure in the theory 
of knowledge makes room for faith, he claims, and 
his metaphysical theories are not up to the stand- 
ard of excellence that characterizes his former 
Critique. This to a very great extent impairs his 
system of morality. He has to proceed on the basis 
of imperfect knowledge, and his doctrines cling 
around the principles of maxims and universal law, 
with the effort to find a universal law of conduct 
that will be valid both for the individual and for 
society — the relation of the Individual to God and 
to the world. Maxims cannot be universal laws, 
but Pure Reason, itself must be practical amdl legis- 
lative to the extent and under the norm of ethical 
truth that one's acts should always be such as one 
can will that it might be a universal law valid 
for all beings with reason and will. Man arrives 
at perfection and the law of freedom through the 
moral law, and perfection means the union of vir- 
tue and happiness with something still higher and 
freer. The ought is a moral imperative to all per- 
sons w^ho lack autonomy of the will. Free will or 
Absolute Freedom is possible for those who have 
found identity of character and thought and activ- 
ity with the Absolute Moral Law. Before Perfec- 
tion, however, can be the 'determining imperative 
of the will, ends or final purposes must first be 
given. 

Spenfcer represents the evolutionary theory of 
ethical thought, and though there have been nu- 
merous attempts! to bring about a unity and syn- 
thesis of morals on the basis 1 of an evolutionary 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 229 

hypothesis, they generally fall far short of the Ideal 
of the Highest Perfection. Spencer, however, 
starts with his psychology, and when he reaches 
a certain point sweeps back and demolishes his first 
starting point. The evolutionary doctrine of 
Ethics necessarily implies transitions and transfor- 
mations. I am of the impression and opinion that 
evolutionary ethics are not as significant as a final 
ethical theory as is transcendentalism; and that 
while evolution is probably the best known working 
hypothesis, it is dependent on ethical Idealism that 
is the practical expression of a life anld! society in 
the Ideal Kingdom of personal ends. Virtue im- 
plies knowledge and character, and is distinguished 
from innocemce in that virtue is innocence that 
has become self-conscious. The Good is that which 
can be the object of an ethically free will, and 
may have various degrees of meaning and deter- 
minations as to what object the conception of good- 
ness shall attach. This variation depenidls on the 
degree of knowledge and the actuality of Individ- 
uals and Ideals that constitute a universal system 
of morality that includes every perfect rational 
will. The Right has a more individual significance, 
and has close contact with the Ought and Law of 
Obligation. This principle must have its home, 
however, in God. The Ought is the conception of 
a, m|oral imperative in finite relations, and implies 
a complete knowledge of all the circumstances, in- 
tents and motives, and sees clearly the right and 
true way out of the concurrence of ethical rela- 
tions, into a consciousness! of justification and feel- 



230 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ing of Satisfaction that depends on conformity with 
the moral law of perfect ethilcal relationships. 
Obligation has a higher, mlore saicred and spiritual 
significance, and holds the unity of perfect ethical 
relationships in a harmonious, free, spontaneous, 
life of happiness and holiness of personality in 
right thinking, right acting, right feeling. It im- 
plies the recognition of the sacredness of person- 
ality. Duty is the conception of what ought bo be 
done, and so long as it is mere duty it may have 
a klbuble aspect with the feeling of pleasure and 
pain. With the pure in heart, however, what was 
once conceived as a duty is no longer a duty but 
an obligation and a joy, that maintains in a par- 
ticular continuance if not concomitance of cir- 
cumstances, or rather in an Ideal of conduct that 
miust be effected in a definite relation or system 
of facts. The Moral Law is the Ideal order of 
Universal Harmony and agreement of all reality, 
that is valid for all time, for God and man. It 
m both subjective and objective. The starry heav- 
ens above anld( the Moral Law within proclaim the 
glory of their Great Original, is a favorite and 
fondly cherished conception of Kant's Ideal World. 
Altruism and Egoism might be well defined as 
the foci of an ellipse around which the orbits of 
society move. Neither altruism alone nor egoism 
•can be regarded as a normal and practical order 
of life in so far a;s it is known to the average indi- 
vidual, so long as inequality of character and! moral 
Ideals are evident or have any place in the actuality 
of practical life. Where there is a perfect agree- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 231 

ment and estimate of another's rights and qualities 
of personal worth in the practical law of loyalty to 
loyal personality that is loyal to an universal 
Ideal and final purpose of identity of individual 
and universal will in Reason that is pure and sim- 
ple and Absolute, there are no conceivable time or 
timeless limitations. And instead of being like an 
ellipse, society may be like a circle whose center is 
everywhere anld! whose circumference is nowlhere. 
The co-conscious identity of the Individual would 
be experience with the Absolute Self-consciousness 
— a self-consciousness that can recognize the per- 
sonal identity in all relations and judge and elimin- 
ate all foreign influences by the power of wisdom 
and love; clear, quick perception and knowledge, 
with a consequent union of life and happiness. 

But there are certain relations; of consciousness 
to time ; and there are also after effects in con- 
sciousness. In his interpretation of nature, Prof. 
Royce refer® to his impression, and hypothesis as 
follows: (1) "The vast contrast which we have 
been taught to m|ake between material anldl con- 
scious processes really depends merely upon the 
accidents of the human point of view, and in par- 
ticular upon an exaggeration of the literal accur- 
acy of those admirable theories of atomic and 
ethereal processes which * * * belong to the 
mere bookkeeping of the sciences." Many of the 
processes of nature may be conceptually described 
by exact formulas having a value as conceptions 
no one questions and yet their literal accuracy no 
one verifies. When those formulas are taken as 



232 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

literally true, the material world seems to be ab- 
solutely rigid substance, under absolutely perma- 
nent mathematical formulas; a type of world such 
that a transition from material nature to conscious 
nature looks perfectly unintelligible. The mathe- 
matical formulas are conception® that help to com- 
pute, predict, describe anfdl classify phenomena. It 
is known that nature tolerates mathematical for- 
mulas, and might also tolerate many other formu- 
las, or forms of thought. When, the ideal contrast 
between mind and matter is abandoned, and com- 
ing to their continuity and analogy, he defines his 
present hypothesis thus: (2) "That we have no 
right whatever to speak of really unconscious 
Nature, but only of uncommunicative Nature, or of 
Nature whose mental processes go on at such dif- 
ferent time-rates from ours thlat we cannot adjust 
ourselves to a live appreciation of their inward 
fluency, although our consciousness does make us 
aware of their presence." Anldi (3) his hypothesis 
is that "In case of Nature in general, ais in case 
of the particular proportions of Nature known as 
our fellowmen, we are dealing with phenomenal 
signs of a vast conscious process, whose relation to 
Time varies vastly, but whose general characters 
are throughouit the same." From/ ithis jpoint of 
view evolution, if necessary, would be more ra- 
tional; a series of activities suggesting various 
degrees and types of coniscious processes. From 
this point Prof. Royce advances by way of sup- 
position: "I suppose that this play between the 
irrevocable and the repeated, between habit and 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 233 

novelty, between rhythm and the destruction of 
rhythm, is everywhere in Nature, as it is in us, 
something significant, something of interest, some- 
thing that means a struggle for ideals. I suppose 
that this something constitutes a process wherein 
goals, ideals, are sought in a seemingly endless 
pursuit, and where new realms of sentient experi- 
ence are constantly coming into view anld' into re- 
lation to former experiences. I suppose that the 
field of Nature's experience is everywhere leading 
slowly or rapidly to the differentiation of new 
types of conscious unity. I suppose that this pro- 
cess goes on with very vast slowness in inorganic 
Nature, as for instance in the nebulae, but with 
great speed in you and me. But, meanwhile, I do 
not suppose that slowness means a lower type of 
consciousness." The relation of consciousness to 
Time is observed as something "arbitrary, and for 
special characters is dependent on a certain fact 
called a particular Timenspan. To be inwardly con- 
scious of anything requires a certain change in the 
contents of feelings, and this change must not be 
too fast or too slow. What happens within the 
millionth or the thousandth of a second necessarily 
escapes a well-known type of consciousness, and 
only the more enduring after-effelcts are noted. 
There is a conceivable type of consciousness that 
might consider an electric spark a very slow affair; 
and again a type of consciousness in wfhich the 
music of the spheres might be an actual rhythm 
of conscious perception as another type might per- 
ceive the harmony and rhythm of the ordinary ele- 



234 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

merits in vision. Even an eternity might be some- 
thing a,s instantaneously present. Such relations 
to timie are no more arbitrary or less conscious, 
"no more or less fluent, and no more or less full of 
possible mleaning," than is the normal type of con- 
scious life. "An element of physical life, a simple 
sensation of feeling, can neither be nor be con- 
ceived in isolation. * * * An|d), if an isolated 
physical element could once exist, it would be like 
any other realistic entity. As an Independent Be- 
ing, it could never come to be linked to amy other 
Being. It would remain forever in the darkness 
of its atomic separation from all real life." All 
life in so far as it is life, has conscious meaning 
and works out a rational destiny. Differences in 
timie rate constitute the variety of individuation in 
the natural world. And processes are found! in in- 
organic nature having a time-rate slower or faster 
than those the ordinary consciousness is adapted to 
read or appreciate. Whether the after-effects of 
these are experienced as sensation or emotion is for 
the Individual subject of experience to judge. In 
the conscious experience of double personality, one 
may dramatically address himself as another, crit- 
icise and conldiemn himself, and observe the Self 
in a relatively impersonal style an entirely alien 
personality. And in the unity of consciousness on 
the other hand, there are automatic processes that 
change or diminish the imtmediately given distinc- 
tions between Ego and non-Ego. The great "how" 
is shown by the lover in Locksley Hall, who some- 
what unobservently tells how : 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 235 

"Love took up the harp of life, and smote on all 

the chords with might; 
Smote the chord of Self that trembling, passed in 
music out of sight." 

In this state the Invisible Self of inner expe- 
rience is yet able decidedly to be audibly present. 
But it is questionable whether tlhe Self of the 
lover ever passed beyond his own range of vision, 
or was in the least out of sight. These things, how- 
ever, indicate a happy emotional confusion of self- 
consciousness to all who know joyous emotion. The 
sadder emotions show endless varieties in the in- 
tensity, clearness, and outlines that characterize 
empirical consciousness from moment to moment, 
though they may not always exhibit a high de- 
gree of fine, aesthetic sensibility. The relations 
of Self and not- Self are subtly distinguished in 
the experience of emotion. 

"If the contrast of Self and not-Self," says Prof. 
Royce, "can thus be defined with an infinite variety 
of emphasis, the unity of each of the two, Self 
and not-Self, can be emphasized in an equally in- 
finite number of ways, whose depth and whose 
extent of meaning will vary with the range of life 
of which one takes account, and with the sort of 
contrast between Self and not - Self which one 
leaves still prominent over against the unity." 
The motives that direct immediately or attach to 
such identification of the Self of the instant pres- 
ent with what is the not- Self, for instance a bit 
of past ocr future experience, are exceedingly va- 



236 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

rious and empirically transitory. Whether there 
is any one rational principle for the usual identi- 
fication of the past and future with, the Self of 
the instant, is a legitimate and expected question 
for the one making a critical examination of the 
Self of comimon sense. What persists after such 
examination is perhaps the "really Idieep and im- 
portant per suasion that he ought to possess or to 
create for himself, despite this chaos, some one 
principle, some finally significant contrast, where- 
by he should be able, with an united and perma- 
nent meaning, to identify that portion of the 
world's life w^hich is to be, in the larger sense, his 
own, and whereby he should become able to con- 
trast with this, his larger Self, all the rest of the 
world of life." This very "fact that one ought to 
be able to select from all the universe a certain 
portion of rememjbered and expected," or conceived 
and intended life as the identity of one's own time 
and individual Self, and to contrast with this unity 
of life, or the larger and truer individuality, the 
life of all other individual Selves, and the life of 
the Absolute in its Unity. This shows at once 
the sense wherein the Self is an Ethical Category, 
and the way the Self must be defined in Ethical 
terms. It is said that the Self can be identified 
with t'he "instant's passing glimpse of Internal 
Meaning." From this point of view, all else may 
be called the not- Self. This, however, would leave 
the Self, as someone might say, in very thin air, 
or "a mere thrill of transient life." It represents 
a state of perception, when the Truth perceived 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 237 

is the Self, if only for one transcendent moment. 
But in general a remembered, past and an intenrdled 
future is identified with the Self whose individu- 
ality is thus intimated. This enlarged Self of mem- 
ory and purpose is then opposed or in conjunction 
with a not-Self — perhaps the world of fellowmen, 
or of nature, or the Absolute Unity in its Ideality. 
While the Self of complete meaning will always 
remain with the entire Life of God, it is conceived 
that this meaning expresses Self in the form of 
an "articulate system of contrasting and co-ope- 
rating lives, of which one, namely your own indi- 
vidual life, is more closely linked, in purpose, in 
task, in meaning, with the life of this instant, than 
is the life of any other individual." Given a life- 
plan for the individual, he may truthfully say, "If 
this is my task, if this is what my past life has 
meant, if this is what my future is to fulfill, if 
it is in this way that I do God's work, if my true 
relation to the Absolute is only to be won through 
the realization of this life-plan, and through the 
accomplishment of this unique task, then indeed 
I am a Self, and a Self who is nobody else, just pre- 
cisely in so far as my life has this purpose and no 
other. By this meaning of my life-plan, by this 
possession of an Mleal, by this Intent always to 
remain another than my fellows despite my di- 
vinely planned unity with them — by this, and not 
by the possession of any Soul- Substance, I am de- 
fined and created a Self." 

Something like the foregoing must be the con- 
fession of the Rational Idealist, who comes to the 



238 



LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 



point of selecting ethical terms for the definition 
of the Self. The Ethical Conception of Self can be 
the only true, genuine, Absolute choice of the Spir- 
itual Consciousness. And the Moral Purpose in 
this Consciousness must show the Individual his 
place in God's World, anldl how to fill that place as 
no one else can. 



PART X. 

THE UNIQUENESS OF SPIRITUAL 
INDIVIDUALITY. 

No one else can share an Individual purpose or 
life-plan so far as it possesses true rationality of 
aim; neither can any one else create it. In so far 
as the world is known as one world, and one's 
place in that world is intended to be unique, God's 
will is consciously expressed. His will is One and 
perfect, and in that Will every life finds its own 
unique meaning, by becoming Self-conscious. This 
theory of the Self assigns to it the character of 
the Free Individual, but this character belongs to 
it in its true relation with God. The character 
of the Free Individual is not completely observed 
at any one instant of time, like an obvious anld) 
independent fact. The Individual should know the 
world as one world, and intend the fulfillment of 
a purpose in the world to be unique. This is an- 
other way of defining the Immanent Idea, and the 
unique Self - consciousness that consciously ex- 
presses the Will of God. 

The divine plan of life in its unity has been re- 
garldted as "A self-representative system of long- 
ings and attainments, where each act expresses 
some particular purpose, and accomplishes that 
purpose, and where to every particular fact there 
corresponds just the purpose that wins embodi- 



240 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

mient in this fact, the conscious temporal life of 
any being who is explicitly aware of his relations 
to God, who acts accordingly, and who sees his atot 
attaining its goal, must be a Well-Ordered series 
of deeds and successes, where each step leads to 
the next, where there is so far no wandering or 
wavering, where novelty results only from recur- 
rent processes, anld! wlhere plans, as a whole, do 
not change." The succession of a number of serieis 
is an excellent example of the Form a being in 
full control of his own rational processes and of 
his experience would present in the recurrent types 
of activity. The simple counting process is end- 
less, and for reflective investigation is "an end- 
lessly baffling wealth of novelties"; yet the divine 
wealth of truth is in like mlanner so seemingly 
uniform in recurrent appearances and reappear- 
ances. Given in such a process the "concrete con- 
tent of a life of action in accordance with a prin- 
ciple, and in pursuit of ideals — and then you 
would have, in the will that expressed itself in 
this life, a boundlessly wealthy source of constantly 
novel experience." Such is the kind of life some- 
times ascribed! to an angel — "A life wherein one 
is always serving God, unswervingly, and Wherein 
one is nevertheless always doing something new"; 
because as in the number series at every stage "all 
that has gone before is presupposed in every new 
deed, and so secures the individuality of that 
deed." E^ery deed is an act of knowledge and an 
expression of purpose — an insight arid* a choice. 
Every clear conception and perception of an Idea, 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 241 

or every act of will involves attention; being en- 
lightened in a momentary deed by what is known, 
and determined in knowledge by what is done. It 
is a constitutive principle of every finite life. When 
an idea arises in the mind, it already involves a 
deed unborn. Direct attention to an idea, and 
the idea filling the circle of consciousness soon 
takes the form of a completed deed. But the nas- 
cent evil self is suppressed by the wiser Self by 
the sense of those finer individual moral qualities 
that unite the Self with God. When fully com- 
prehended, honor and obligation are sacred ties 
uniting the individual and universal with the Di- 
vine. And a voluntary act in performing a good 
deed is an a'ct by virtue of man's own conscious 
attention to the good. So long as he clearly thinks 
of nothing so much as his own relation to the 
world anidi to God, he will act accordingly, not 
as the rebellious, but the obedient Self. All beings 
in some manner and measure serve the Absolute 
Purpose, in so far as they then and there in intme- 
dfiate experience know that Purpose. And all con- 
scious beings know what they are conscious of at 
any instant so long as they have a clear percep- 
tion of an Ideal; without temptation or in the 
midst of temptation, transcending through the 
power of an Ideal. The Ideal is Self-conscious in 
Creative Mind, and perceived appropriately in the 
finite by an attitude psychologists call attention. 
The nature of sin has been defined as forgetting 
the Ought ; and moral freedom consists in constant 
attention to Goodness and the highest knowledge 



242 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of God and Truth. While forgetting is the conse- 
quent of inattention, free choice is voluntary atten- 
tion. Sin depends upon a narrowing of Conscious- 
ness, so that ignorance occurs where knowledge 
ought to be. A certain narrowness of conscious- 
ness is unfortunately the fate of the human 
mind, however it has come about. But freely cho- 
sen narrowness of a vicious character, and also the 
"deliberate forgetting of what one already knows 
of God and the Truth/' this is the very essence 
of sin. But freedom is possible and actual, and 
consists in coming to the light of Truth and dwell- 
ing in the Universal. 

Time m|ay be regarded as in a certain sense pos- 
sessing the idealistic type of Being, but any tem- 
poral fact is essentially more or less dissatisfying 
and is an evil when made a chief object of atten- 
tion. Time may be a form of the will, but it is a 
fact of universal experience that in time there is 
for the will no conscious satisfaction ; aaci. we pro- 
ceed to the future of our experience, seeking in 
that region our fuller expression. Time has been 
viewed, especially by the realist, as the fate of the 
world' — the devourer and the destroyer of what- 
ever now is. 

The pessimistic assailant of Metaphysics may 
speak against or oppose the Utopian reality of 
idealistic experience; but where shall he find his 
right and authority. Is he not immoral to the ex- 
tent that he imposes his dark picture and concep- 
tion of life on others? All persons live in their 
own thought world to some extent, some more, 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 243 

some less; and no one can assert or claim an eth- 
ical or legal right to accuse another of madness 
and impracticability for living in a finer, opti- 
mistic, ideal thought world, radiating a happy in- 
fluence with a spiritual presence. If the one enam- 
ored with temporal things wants to live in pes- 
simism, he should look to optimism; with reveren- 
tial regard and respect of ideal Love. Though 
there are times when none of us can entirely es- 
cape the distressing effects of the things we see, 
we can at least hope ; and look for the brighter and 
more aesthetic element in the shadows and on the 
hilltops. The founder of Christianity was a great 
Optimist. 

Though some may refrain from looking into the 
deeper unity of the temporal and the Eternal Or- 
ders, and place great stress on sundering the moral 
agents of the Universe; to make the responsibility 
greater for each mioral agent, and for the sake, as 
they believe, of clearing the divine will from any 
responsibility for the deeds of finite agents; and 
then for the sake of assuring the innocent that no 
harm can come to the righteousi. Theirs is the 
just penalty if they sin; "But no ill can happen to 
the righteous in this justly governed world of the 
ethically Independent Beings." In view of the 
complications of life, and the appearance of ills 
that seem to fall upon the innocent; and because 
of the withholding of divine justice in the visible 
affairs of life, the doctrine has been completed to 
formulate various supplementary hypotheses. Per- 
haps a righteous man only seems to suffer in the 



244 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

physical sense of the term; but his suffering is 
always and most profoundly spiritual. Love shows 
its glory as spiritual suffering, anld< as love by its 
"Conquests over doubts and estrangements, the 
absences and the misunderstandings, the griefs 
and the loneliness, that love glorifies with its light 
amidst all their tragedy." In the Absolute the In- 
dividual's joy is fulfilled. Yet this very fulfilment 
and God's triumph implies, includes and 'demands 
that sorrow can and shall be transcendeldi, even 
in the world of finite Being. It is through suffer- 
ing that all the elements of perfection are brought 
forth into evidence. Such perfections include suf- 
fering, since in the conquest over suffering the 
richer experiences of life and all the nobler gifts 
of the Spirit, are known to exist. It mlight be 
said that nowhere in Time is perfection to be found 
in an Absolute sense, though relative perfection 
is present in every best possible thought and act. 
"Our comfort lies in the Knowledge of the Eternal. 
Strengthened by that knowledge, we can win the 
most enduring of temporal joys." And "Our union 
with God implies an immjortal and individual life." 
In God we are first real Individuals and conscious 
Selves. And neither human thought nor human 
experience in any form of cons/ciousnesis can make 
obvious the immediate presence of the Divine per- 
sonality. "No ethical Self, in its union with God, 
can ever view its task as accomplishe/di, or its work 
as done, or its individuality as ceasing to seek, in 
God, a temporal future." In Eternity all is done 
and there is a rest from our labors; but in Time 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 245 

there is no end to the individual ethical task. The 
difference between time and eternity is probably 
the difference of time-span or moments of time, 
and it is possible to define an infinite system as 
containing an infinity of mutually exclusive parts, 
wihile each of these parts is equal to the complete 
unity by internal complexity of structure, and in 
the multitude of its individual parts. We need 
not conceive, as Prof. Royce has well said, "The 
Eternal Ethical Individual, however partial he 
may be, as in any sense less in the grade of com- 
plication of his activity or in the multitude of his 
acts of will than is the Absolute." In God the 
Individual Self finds its own. 

If, as som;e philosophical theologian has said, 
"Religion lies at the basis of all Ideals," art might 
be said, indeed, to glorify them. There is art in 
nature as well as in the expression of life in gen- 
eral. A bunch of roses and violets is a record 
in Time of Art that surpasses the skill of human 
genius. And like a rosebud unfolding in the Infi- 
nite is the presence of the Divine Spirit in human 
personality — Love, Justice, Truth, for all Eternity 
and in Life. The Lamp of Life, and the Lamp of 
Beauty, are ethical and aesthetical symbols of 
miore than temporary or passing interest, for the 
wayworn pilgrims of the temporal order. When he 
cannot tell you what is the difference between a, 
young devil's needle dancing a jig on a pinnacle, 
and a idhisty miller airing himself in a hot air 
cooler ; he may at least be informed, that wherever 
those two lamps have been burning, there both of 



246 



LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 



them have been busy. In an order of Life sub- 
ject to temptation and the limitations of knowl- 
edge, the Devil vanishes from the World of the 
Absolute; and though the mills of God grind 
slowly, yet they grind exceeding fine. 

When we come to consider the relations of facts 
and objects, we finidi that two facts or objects are 
dependent on one another in the sense that they 
constitute an ordered series, and this series has 
its unity and determinative principle in a Unitary 
Being. For instance, an object is a system of at- 
tributes so related and united that all the attri- 
butes and characteristic relations are necessary to 
constitute the genuine being of the object. Should 
one of the attributes or relations be lacking, the 
object would lose its identity. Objects and facts 
are also dependent of one another, simce all facts 
anldJ objects that are particulars are parts of an 
order knowin as a Unitary Being; they are also 
separated from one another by certain external re- 
lations. These external relations are infinitely ex- 
tensive or of a variety of divisibility in objective 
relations that there is always an external relation 
that separates the two objects or facts, and defines 
them as elements or individuals. If h depends on 
a then a depends on 6. Take, for instance, a numi- 
ber series; the truth of any whole number in the 
series depends on the truth of its precedent, and 
the truth of its precefdlent implies the truth of its 
successor. The truth of all the numbers insures 
the truth of the whole series, and the truth of the 
entire series implies the truth of every element or 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 247 

individual. The same applies to a system of facts 
and objects in their elemental and constituent re- 
lations. 

The reality of any being depends on the rela- 
tions in which it stands to other Beings; both in 
the associative memory of the observer and in their 
relations to one another. Objects are distinguished 
intelligibly by their recognized relations and if 
these relations are not valid or not at all, the 
Being of the thing vanishes from the world of in- 
telligible Reality; and since there is no genuine 
Being apart from knowledge, a thing out of rela- 
tions has no existence at all. A thing that is en- 
tirely relative or relational may or may not exist, 
because it would have no determinative principle 
of its own, and would be subject to the changes 
of the arbitrary laws of the entire system of rela- 
tionships. The system of Reality is never static, 
but essentially active, and a system of relation- 
ships that could be unchangeable is inconceivable. 
The same object X can stand now in one, and now 
in another set of relationships; because of the rec- 
ognized system of a one-one relationship that char- 
acterizes the principles of ownership. This is, how- 
ever, characteristic only of the finite order of 
Being. An Infinite Order is of a different type 
altogether. Two different objects can have the 
same quality or qualities, but there is always some- 
thing that 'distinguishes. There is either some new 
quality that does not belong to the other, or else 
there is a different system of relationships in w v hich 
identical qualities are so united as to constitute 



248 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

a distinctly new and different type of Being. 
Kealism regards the objects in themselves to be 
very independent and arbitrary, and consequently 
loses sight of the other fact that is most signifi- 
cant. Were it not for its relations, both internal 
and external, the object coulldl not exist; for the 
reason that its qualities depend on certain differ- 
ences in relation within its own being, and an ob- 
ject apart from the knowledge that knows it does 
not exist at all, except as it has had some prede- 
termined existence in a time series. 

Experience, Immediate, Will, Idea, and Activ- 
ity — are terms that imply an intimate articulation 
of subjective and objective factors that are relateldl 
in every experience, whether it be perceptual or 
conceptual. In all judgments and choices, Self- 
conscious Truth guides, because genuine Expe- 
rience is always rational, independent of the sen- 
sations and disturbances that may be acknowl- 
edged as taking place in the "fringes of conscious- 
ness," of outer perceptual relationships. Then 
something is always Imimeldiate for this rational 
principle to act upon ; anldl there is a determinative, 
Immanent Idea that orders and controls the mo- 
tives and choices that are to characterize the ex- 
perience about to organize in the conscious life of 
the Individual knowing Self. The inner aspect of 
experience is sometimes regarded as the Idea; but, 
in thinking processes, ideas constitute an expe- 
rience of their own type of Being, and consequently 
there is recognized the distinctive feature of a 
physical anldl a mental series of facts; and whether 



IN THE! PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 249 

they are regarded as influencing each other or not, 
they have a point of very close contact in a cer- 
tain sphere and phase of experience. However, 
there is nothing to keep the individual life of ex- 
perience to the point of contact that denotes an 
immediate relation of the two series or types of 
experience. It is clear that there can be no com- 
plete physical type of experience without the cor- 
responding series of mental faicts in the realm of 
ideas, but the one does not arbitrarily determine 
the other. There is a type of experience that tran- 
scends the immediate consideration of these facts 
and relations; anldJ this may be called the realm 
of Pure Ideas. This is m|ore characteristic of the 
Infinite Series of an ordered world entirely inde- 
pendent of any finite ideas or influences or rela- 
tions, except mediatorial; since there is an en- 
tirely different and new type of Beings in rela- 
tions that imply all Being, yet are Absolutely in- 
dependent and differentially separate — a complete- 
ness in the Individual and an Individual in and 
through the completeness. Activity is the inevita- 
ble outcome of a well ordered experience; and a 
well ordered Experience implies Will and Idea, a 
complete and harmonious activity in an Immediate 
Present. 

A Self-representative system in the most Abso- 
lute sense of the term, belongs only to the Infinite. 
It is Self-iconsistent in all its parts. It is best 
represented by Universal and Particular Truth. 
The Truth of One is the Truth of all, and the 
Truth of all is the Truth of One. Nothing can 



250 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

enter or subsist to break up the order of relation 
and Being that maintains and is positive amd ac- 
tive, and active through all external relations that 
constitute the inner relations of finite Being. A 
finite system can be self-representative in so far 
as the laws of the higher and Absolute order of 
Infinite Truth maintain the inner relations and 
are actively expressed in the external relations of 
the finite individual or element. An Infinite col- 
lection has a different meaning to different ap- 
proaches. Truth changes but is never destroyed 
by the effect of analysis or definition. Truth it- 
self gives the power and faculty to analyze anid 
define. The Infinite series may be represented in 
a correlation of concepts by the form of a num- 
ber series, — 2oo, 200+1, 200+02, . . . 2°o-roo, 
represents the Infinite Power of the individual or 
element; and each whole number is infinite, but 
one wihole number is or may be infinitely greater 
than another whole number. This of course im- 
plies a chain of reasoning, that means a system of 
relations that maintain with the activity of ele- 
ments or individuals, that is, with the Truth of 
elements or individuals; and in this sense these 
relations are probably causal. To conceive of Real- 
ity one must conceive of a Perfect Being; to con- 
ceive of a Perfect Being is to conceive of God, is 
to conceive an Infinite system of Real Facts. For 
the Self cannot be known unless the Universe is 
known. The Self can be known ultimately in God ; 
in God is Absolute Reality, because we must con- 
ceive of Hiroi as Perfect Being; and a perfect 



IN THE PEBCEPTION OF TRUTH 251 

Being is One of Perfect Knowledge in diversity 
of relationships; Perfect Ethical Spirit, Aristo- 
tle's system was a mixture of natural and super- 
natural elements, and could not consistently con- 
ceive an Infinite Series of pure transcendent activ- 
ities and relations that characterize the Infinite 
Series. There are conceptions that it is not pos- 
sible to conceive of anything surpassing: Such as 
an infinite velocity, for instance, as suggested by 
the electrical sciences. In ethical terms a Perfect 
Ethical Spirit is not to be con'ceivddi of as having 
any superior, but as positively active in other eth- 
ical relations maintaining and causing Perfection 
without losing energy or Perfection. The best ex- 
ample of two infinite systems is that of a number 
series : 2 00 + 00 series is infinitely greater than 2°° 
series. A series of counting, 1, 2, 3, 4, . . , 
°°, represent a mixture of finite and infinite 
elements. This is an abstract way of represent- 
ing the discernment of a Truth or meaning, but 
there is probably no clearer way than the mathe- 
matical, except to conceive of Truth and interpre- 
tations in purely mental concepts. 

The "Third Conception of Being" has been ex- 
pounded or represented by critical nationalists, 
and especially by Stoic philosophy. It regards 
the universality of law as evident above all things, 
and divests reality by diverting from its most ar- 
tistic formjs of expression in thought and feeling, 
through its habitual mental revelries in cold ab- 
stractions of thought, that reduce reality to a bare 
uniformity in which a series of patriculars are 



252 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

likely to disappear through absorption. The proof 
of the validity of the Fourth Conception of Being 
is brought out in the statement that all Selves 
have their being in One Self. Selves do not exist 
apart from a self-known experience. The Self- 
known activity of the Self is the true Self, and 
this activity of conscious thought has Being and 
Reality in one Absolute Self-known Activity; all 
Self-known activity is united and ordered and de- 
termined by Absolute Creative Mind and Will in 
Final Purpose and Design. This constitutes and 
maintains the unity and harmony of the World 
of True Being, in series of living and vital rela- 
tions that make the variety of acts and logical is- 
sues in the perfected system and series of tem- 
poral moments composing the complete unity of 
the World Order. The world is real as a construc- 
tively Idealistic System thus determined by the 
Absolute and final harmony of True Being; much 
like the completion of a piece of music, and the 
performance depends on the well ordered effects 
according to adaptations of particular elements 
and activities to the Laws of the Absolute One, 
Free Activity of the entire completed harmony. 
The world is real and harmonious in the Knowl- 
edge of Absolute and Universal Truth in the World 
with transcendental Experience of the Absolute. 
Aristotle's conception of the soul centered 
around the conception of the povt, the transcend- 
dental Reason. Plato taught philosophy and 
science in his dialogues and conversational writ- 
ings, theology and poetry in his myths. Aristotle 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 253 

was concerned more with the speculative reason 
and a philosophy of nature. Epicurus probably 
drew his physics from Plato, and his ethics from 
Aristotle. Bacon, Locke, Descartes and others in 
modern philosophy represented empiricism, and 
their influence is pragmatical. Bacon represents 
the intellectualist type; Locke, the sensationalist; 
and Descartes, a kind of spiritualistic dualism that 
admits the reality and interaction of mind and 
body — these were his favorite conceptions that 
characterize his philosophy. And it is a type of 
rationalism as distinguished from Idealistic, con- 
structive empiricism. Berkeley maintained a spir : 
itualistic monism that was free of the pantheistic 
conceptions of Spinoza to a g*eat extent, and his 
conception of the world is a world of mind; the 
objects are ideas that have a definite expression 
in the formjs and life of related spirits or minds 
and reciprocal wills. Kant's Critique of Practical 
Reason and the Oritique of Judgment are a more 
or less dogmatic expression of his ideals in this 
relation to the world of actual life, and their free 
and transcendent relation with the World Beau- 
tiful. In the Oritique of Pure Reason he presented 
a more elaborate and carefully reasoned examina- 
tion of the facts and ideas as they appeared in his 
view of experience. 

Plato's theory of Ideas may be considered to 
begin in its most simple form with the Divine Rea- 
son, but his entire world for his point of view is 
a world of Ideas. His life associations were natur- 
ally with the refined and educated; and anything 



254 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of a crude, materialistic conception was not in sym- 
pathy with hi si habit of thought. Things were ideas 
materialized, that is in so far as they were neces- 
sarily regarded in the materialistic conception of 
some of the other Greek philosophers. As for him 
these notions had no place, except probably as a 
point of agreement with those who could not ap- 
preciate his view of the world. He was not a mere 
idealist, but the rational order of the system of 
realities was 1 even the more important and of vital 
interest because of his idealism. His ideas passed 
from the simple through the complex to the One 
unitary Idea that includes all others within the 
range of true being. He had no place in the sys- 
tem of Ideas for the conception of evil. Evil he 
thought might be present, but it inhered only in 
the principle of matter. The Highest Idea was 
Absolute Goodness, and other ideas had relative 
value according to their appropriate nearness to 
Absolute perfection and Goodness. There were 
exclusive ideas for the intellectual, moral and sen- 
suous types of experience; and these were to be 
practical according to a free insight of perfect 
judgment to meet the totality of experience in any 
moment of conscious decision required by circum- 
stances. The intellectual Idea is Wisdom; the 
moral, Courage ; and the sense world comes under 
the idea of temjperance. The Idea of Good may be 
briefly stated in terms that include whatever con- 
forms with the perfect system of Absolute Good- 
ness in the highest manifestations and extending 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 255 

through all Reality. For Plato the World of Ideas 
is the Real World. 

The Platonic theory probably shows the influence 
of the Eleatics by their representing true being and 
the Heracliteans by their ethical significance, the 
Pythagoreans by their actuality of number in re- 
lations, and of Anaxagoras by admission of the 
principle of change into the static world of true 
Being. The antithesis of nature and law comes 
about by the rigidity of his conception of the worBdi 
of Ideas. It is, however, what one would naturally 
expect to find as the logical issue of his method 
of development without the actualization of a free 
spiritual life of the self-conscious Absolute Idea. 
His view of imitation represents the 'copy theory 
in so far as it is out of the realm of philosophy 
and poetry, in philosophy and poetry imitation is 
not good. In philosophy and poetry the Creative 
Reason active in genius is commendable. BQis ar- 
gument for immortality rests on the imperishable, 
indestructible nature of Ideas. And the Soul seems 
to be regarded as a kind of synthesis of a system 
of related Ideas in a conscious life. Dialectics 
for Plato is the science of skillful conversation in 
practical life, and it is interesting to note that 
his ideal of dialectical exercises is always fine, phil- 
osophical, and tempered with wisdom and the good- 
will of rare altruistic feeling. 

Time, Knowledge, Objective Experience, Percep- 
tion — what are they for the estimation of the prac- 
tical Idealist? Time is empirically real in the 
sense that there are moments in the time series 



256 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

of a conscious experience. This depends on the 
rate of the succession of Meas in judgment, thought 
and perception. Hence a moment can be esti- 
mated as an eternity and an eternity as a moment. 
A whole lifetime of experience is thus sometimes 
crowded into a very short time. But it may be 
regarded as transcendentally unreal in the con- 
templation of an idea of the Eeason pure and sim- 
ple, and at the same time highly complex, in the 
consciousness of an all-inclusive Ideal of Beauty, 
Perfection, Freedom — Goodness and Self - con- 
sciousness with Truth that make the Individual 
free as an angel and inevitably holy. Knowledge 
miay be regarded as coming through the sense per- 
ceptions, analysis of complex concepts and synthe- 
sis of concepts that are clearly seen through with 
the recognition of a meaning for the Self-conscious 
Mind. Keal objective experience differs from mere 
perception in so far as the object is thought. Mere 
perception is an activity of the mind in judging 
the quality of appearances and the nature of things, 
and the meaning of acts and expressions that have 
a logical significance. Perception implies memory, 
imagination and a logical mind that is essentially 
active in knowing. Perception may be regarded 
as real objective experience when the relations of 
the object are judged as external. With Kant there 
always remjained something unknown about the 
objective world with which he had any experience, 
and he believed it unknowable. In the Kantian 
sense objective experience pure and simple indi- 
cated a will that seemed to oppose the will of the 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 257 

thinking subject. In a system of harmoniously re- 
lated wills, it is a question whether there can be 
any difference between perception and Ideal Ex- 
perience. 

Kant's treatment of the antinomies arises neces- 
sarily from his conception of the opposition of 
wills, and the impossibility of his arriving at a 
complete and adequate explanation of experience 
from his starting point. If he had a finer con- 
ception of the reality of the physical universe, and 
its relation in sense perception and the ideas in 
the synthesis of meaning and the totality of expe- 
rience with its a priori significance in constructive 
knowledge with perfect observation and clear dis- 
cernment of the meaning of ideas with perfect 
judgment, those things that were KLeals with him 
— if he had started with these, there would proba- 
bly have been no need for any treatment of the 
antinomies at all; for it is not conceivable how 
they could exist in a system of knowledge that 
seeks a complete analysis and explanation of the 
world. They arise in that condition of experience 
with the world where one finds himself living and 
thinking and acting. What Kant means by his 
statement of the moral law seems to indicate his 
conscious attitu'die assumed in the later Critique 
after his failures in the former. He unmistakably 
recognizes the Self as a multiple personality that 
implies a number of persons in the unity of a com- 
mon Ideal. 

The process of decentralization that takes place 
and conditions the experience of multiple person- 



258 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ality, seems easily brought about by the exclusion 
of a middle term in transcendental perception of 
Ideas. In logical processes it is commonly called 
immediate inference, when the meaning and rela- 
tion of truths is clear enough to be known with- 
out mentioning the entire logical series of infer- 
ences; and, as in sylogistic reasoning, the conclu- 
sion is taken from the major premise directly by 
the perception of Truth. Traditionally clear Meas 
were often regarded as clear in the sense that they 
could be expressed in a sylogism and also in the 
more complex forms of truth that could be recog- 
nized as self-evident. Distinct ideas are clearly 
differentiated by individuation, and in true Being 
they must have their unity in the Divine Keason 
anidi the Absolute Self - consciousness. In finite 
mind ideas are distinct and simple when they are 
clearly understood. For an Idea to be adequate 
it must be a synthesis of ideas that have a clear 
meaning in a personality and are true in the ex- 
pression. Else it would be regarded as a Reductio 
ad Absurdum, having no meaning in a logiclal 
mind, because there is nothing in comtmon to rec- 
ognize truth in the form of a proposition. Pure 
Logic will not mix with empirical facts and con- 
ditions of perception that have nothing in common 
with the truth of the Absolute Self-conscious Mind. 
Since Logic is the science of Ideas, and Pure Logic 
deals with adequate ideas, and handles the con- 
ceptions as such, and adequate ideas are syntheses 
of personal truth — then Pure Logic has to postu- 
late a delemma for the best possible working hypo- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 259 

thesis in the sphere where its value is inestimable; 
the skillful statement of a truth in two different 
ways, either of which has validity and appears 
true in the form of a logical proposition that is a 
double statement of a true Idea. This seems to 
have been the method proposed by Kant in his 
doctrine of the antinomies. The study of his later 
work in its relation with the earlier shows that 
there is a possible and more satisfactory way of 
approaich. This may be stated in something like 
Pure Logic in conjunction with imagination in the 
perception of true Ideas. 

A truth that is more likely to be actualized is 
always a more probable proposition than an idea 
that is only possible. One proposition may be 
nuore probable than another, when there is more 
truth recognized by a life in a community of free 
Beings, and it offers the actualization of an Ideal 
that appeals to the Ideal of an actual possible 
experience of Ideal perfection in the mlind ex- 
pressed in the forms of the Beautiful in nature and 
art; a proposition that is more clearly recognized 
in scientific knowledge as conforming to the Unity 
of all Ideals in the One Absolute Ideal expressed 
by the Type Life in the Christian Character, arid 
manifested in the world of reality through the Di- 
vine Reason or Logos of the Universe, and in reli- 
gious experience as Love, Devotion, and respect of 
Personality. 

I remember taking an examination in Logic one 
time, which received the comment, "Quite cupe- 
lessly ignorant and confused." I claimed that the 



260 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

comment did not apply to me, because I had a clear 
idea of the problems in logic that were involved, 
but wrote with great difficulty on account of con- 
flicting disturbances of perception that forceki 
themselves on the sphere of logical mental proc- 
esses. They did not seem to be altogether real, 
but they greatly hindered a free expression of 
thought. What was written may have deserved 
the comment; for I discovered after the return of 
the paper that I was under the impression of hav- 
ing written somethings nowhere to be found. One 
I rememlbered in particular was an appeal to com- 
municate through the Logos of the Universe, im- 
mediately after which I had the impression that 
some one in another room, adjoining the exami- 
nation room, burst into tears with a kiridi of hysteri- 
cal cry. After that I was not troubled so much 
with conflicting disturbances of thought, but I my- 
self felt very sorrowful, with an overwhelming 
sense of something that made the tears start from 
my own eyes, and brought the examination to a 
close with a few brief, general statements. 

Sensations of pain from the point of Cupid's 
arrow, indeed are not pleasant ; and they often have 
a disturbing effect on the logical processes of 
thought. The process of attention in its general 
significance has a rythmical degree of intensity 
and relaxation. And when the attention is fixed 
on the perception or the clear conception of an 
Ideal that is held in the imagination as a logical 
series of mental images or facts, it has a decided 
influence on the physical series of facts that con- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 261 

stitute the objective side of the personality, as 
well as the psychical series of facts that are parts 
in the unity of personality. The unity of personal 
consciousness necessarily implies the blending or 
related divisions of the mind, intellect, sensibility 
and will. If there is a possibility of a conscious 
mind having transcended this threefold division, 
or a mind that does not imply all of these, it is 
not the ordinary type of mentality in practical 
life. The personality seems drawn into the Idieal 
state of Self-consciousness by some determination 
of the will as consciously related with the rational 
life and pure emiotion that might be called ecstatic. 
Pleasure-Pain, Love-Hate, Joy-Sorrow, are per- 
haps different intensities of the same sensation, 
emotion, or spiritual attitude of a sentient Being. 
Before the threshold can be passed from pleasure 
to pain, there must be a high intensity of pleasure. 
And at the threshold of Love and Hate stands the 
sentinel of reason with the psychic wand; beware 
lest Love be changed to hate. At the gateway of 
Joy and sorrow, is the angel with the flaming sword 
of passion and desire; sorrow may be changed to 
Joy, but Joy never to sorrow; or else Joy may 
come to lose its spiritual quality, and the forsaken 
soul driven through the gate to sorrow, and then 
only a Redeeming Love can rescue, and bring again 
to the Paradise of Joy and Haven of Delight. 
These elements of the Spiritual Consciousness are 
essentially the same spiritual principle at heart, 
but the Soul, that undergoes the experience, suf- 
fers a transformation or modification of consciousr 



262 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

ness at the transition point of one to the other. 
The negative side of these aesthetic experiences 
may be briefly defineld as what does not promote 
the normal and healthy activity of a life; and the 
negative effect can be reduced by the power of 
right thinking in the Ideal construction of Expe- 
rience. 

The Ideal construction of Experience involves 
the Ideal Construction of Space, at least in some 
extent to begin with. This is partly required and 
represented by the principles of stereoscopic vision 
that involve to some extent the principles of space 
perception in a high degree of complex co-ordina- 
tions of lines and angles to miake up the variety 
of space perception in its manifold orkler according 
to the World of experience. We think of space 
largely in terms of visual perception. Mathemati- 
cal formis and laws determine the essential of an 
ideal construction of space, but in ordinary expe- 
rience objects have their form and content of ex- 
perience in the characteristic relation of the image 
formied with binocular vision as represented in 
stereoscopic vision. The perception of the third 
dimension in space is perceived, or rather percep- 
tion of depth in the field of vision for visual space 
experience, depends on the arrangement of differ- 
ent parts of the object as perceived in different 
relations on the retina of each eye. The fac- 
tors that determine the many possible associations 
that may arise in consciousness at a given time 
are both objective and subjective. An objective 
factor inhibits the myth-making faculty in too free 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 263 

or spontaneous expression; and the inverse is also 
true, that the subjective factors control and de- 
termine what objective factors shall enter the mind. 
In the instance of after-images it has been observed 
that attention controls them to a very great extent, 
but the Creative Will is also active and efficient 
in producing this kind of phenomena. After 
images and invagination images are not evident 
and do not impose their impressions on the miridi 
when the observing faculty is actively engaged 
with real objective space perception. The prevail- 
ing factors in the determination of attention rules 
them out. The associations of ideas are also con- 
trolled by the concrete objects of attention as well 
as by the fixation of attention with a voluntary 
effort. And then mental states may be measured 
by the limitations of a self-conscious will as ac- 
tive and controlling in the range and extent of 
knowledge and correct judgment. 

The biological values of emotions are more 
clearly evident in their influence on the circulation, 
also breathing and various other movements of an 
organism. Emotions are sometimies proidiuced by 
certain nervous processes, and they seem to origi- 
nate from suggestion or other activities of succes- 
sion in the conscious flow of ideas, whether de- 
termined by the intellect or the will. Mere physi- 
cal suggestion does not require much intelligence. 
Reflex movements or co-ordinations of will may be 
so well co-ordinated by careful training that they 
take place without always paying special volun- 
tary attention to them. And the unity and span 



264 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 






of consciousness has a variety of extent according 
to the limits of knowledge. Whether these limits 
are vast or narrow, the personal will and moral 
purpose determines the self - known activities of 
the Self, and excludes foreign influences, that some- 
times indefinitely disturb the consciousness of 
Self. A span of consciousness is more or less ex- 
tended according to the capacity and ability of 
Creative, Constructive Imagination. A time-span 
of consciousness has special reference to memory, 
and the logical series o f ideas exten'ded by the 
imagination, and controlled in the mind by a ra- 
tional will. There is probably no reason for sup- 
posing merely psychical causality. The psychical 
activities and influences are controlled by Pure 
Reason rather than by the 'direct agencies of psy- 
choses. 



PART XI. 

THE RELATION OF IDEAS AND 
AESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 

In transcendental philosophy Ideas are 'distin- 
guished from concepts of the Understanding by 
calling them representations referred to an object 
according to a certain principle, but mere ideas 
may never be knowing agents. They are either 
referred to an intuitive, subjective principle of the 
mutual harmony of the cognitive powers; or they 
are referred to a concept of an objective principle. 
Tlhe intuitive ideas Kant calls aesthetical, while 
the conceptual are called rational Ideas. These 
concepts are transcendent, and differ from a con- 
cept of the Understanding to which a correspond- 
ing adequate experience can always be supplied, 
anldi is therefore called Imjmianent. 

Kant thinks "An aesthetical Idea cannot become 
a cognition, because it is an intuition of the Imagi- 
nation for w T hich an adequate concept can never 
be found"; and that "A rational Idea can never 
become a cognition, because it involves a concept 
of the supersensible corresponding to which an in- 
tuition can never be given." Here Kant's skep- 
ticism shows itself clinging to the uncertainty of 
things as they appear, for the basis of his system 
of speculation, and failing to state the law of asso- 
ciation that may hold just as well in the aesthetic 



266 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

and supersensible Ideas, as it is alleged to hold 
in the ideas of sense perception. Though he miay 
justly "call the aesthetical Idea an inexponible 
representation of the Imagination, and a rational 
Idea an indemonstrable concept of Reason. " 

Concepts of the Understanding are always de- 
monstrable, since a corresponding object is always 
capable of being given in intuition, pure or empi- 
rical; and thus they become cognitions. This is 
equivalent to saying that there is always a trans- 
cendental activity of the mind in the act of knowl- 
edge and certitude, that corresponds with the plain 
ordinary fact way of knowing; and to the plain 
man's consciousness these concepts come to be re- 
gar/died as intuitions. They can be authenticated 
by an empirical intuition, a thought can be proved 
by an example. 

In logic demonstration attaches only to propo- 
sitions, and these m|ight be mpre correctly consid- 
ered as mediately and immediately certain. Pure 
philosophy has propositions of both kinds, some 
susceptible of proof and others not; though they 
may be proved on a priori grounds, but not demon- 
strated, unless presented as concepts intuitively. 
If the intuition is a priori, it is constructive; if em- 
pirical, the object displayed assures objective real- 
ity to the concept. For instance, the concept of trans- 
cendental freedom may be of a kind that is demon- 
strable, but is at the same time a rational Idea; 
while virtue is so only in a degree that is free 
from certain conditions. Empirically given there 
can be nothing regarding the quality of freedom, 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 2G7 

and the quality of virtue alone does not attain to 
the degree of causality, prescribed as a rule by 
the rational Idea. In a rational Idea the Imagi- 
nation with its intuitions is not limited to a pre- 
sented or given concept, and in an aesthetical Idea 
the Understanding by its concepts does not attain 
completely to that internal intuition the Invagina- 
tion inseparably associates with a given represen- 
tation. Both rational and aesthetical Ideas must 
have their principles in Reason; the one in the 
objective, the other in the subjective aspects of its 
activity. It is sometimes thought that true gen- 
ius may be explained as the faculty of aesthetical 
Ideas, that show the reason why in the expressions 
of genius it is inner nature and not the premedi- 
tated purpose alone that gives the rule to beau- 
tiful art — the supersensible with respect to which 
it is the final purpose given by the intelligible part 
of our cognitive faculties. Thus we also develop 
that sympathy with genius so vital in the appre- 
ciation of beautiful art; and it can be the only 
(/ priori basis of a purposive, subjective principle 
that is universally valid> when no objective prin- 
ciple can be prescribed. 

Kant calls attention to the agreement of the 
three kinds of antinomies of Pure Reason, in that 
all compel us to regard them merely as phenomena, 
and to supply to them an intelligible essence, su- 
persensible, of which the concept is only an idea. 
These three antinomies have their existence in the 
three cognitive faculties which he calls Under- 
standing, Judgment arid Reason. I don't see any 



268 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

need for these antinomies, if the act of knowing 
involves all the faculties of cognition in a harmon- 
ious relation of activity. There can be no real 
knowledge through one faculty alone out of rela- 
tion with the others. If empiricism and rational- 
ism were the only factors in the Critique of Taste, 
there would not be much room left for the idea 
of the beautiful. However, these satisfying ideas 
of the aesthetical judgment are closely allied with 
the principle of rationalism, though they cannot 
be comprehended in definite concepts. "The ration- 
alism of the principle of taste is either that of the 
realism of purposiveness, or of its idealism." Kant 
thinks because a judgment of taste is not a cog- 
nitive judgment, and beauty is not a characteristic 
of the object, considered in itself, "the rationalisim 
of the principle of taste can never be placed in 
the fact that the purposiveness in this judgment 
is thought as objective." This can be true of the 
object only in so far as it is the expression of a 
finite mind. The judgment of taste theoretically 
and logically refers to the perfection of the object, 
and beauty in the object is all that makes it real. 
The distinction between the realism and idealism 
in the judgment of taste must be decided by a sub- 
jective quality assumed as an actual purpose of 
nature or art harmonizing with our judgment; or 
by a purposive harmony with the needs of our 
judgment assumed in nature and its forms pro- 
duced according to particular laws, which shows 
itself spontaneously and contingently. 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 269 

The beautiful formations in the realm of organ- 
ized nature are invincible evidences for realism of 
the aesthetical purposiveness of nature; since we 
can assume that in the production of the beaiitiful 
there is an Idea of the beautiful in the producing 
cause, a purpose agreeing with reference to our 
own imagination. Flowers, beautiful birds of 
plumage and song, or the radiating rays of a crys- 
tal of snow, all have a significant meaning and 
worth in the development of our mental and aesthet- 
ical faculties. "Nature everywhere shows in its 
free formations much mechanical tendency to the 
productions of forms which seem, as it were, to 
be m|ade for the aesthetical exercise of our Judg- 
ment." While much in nature and art is a devel- 
opment there are also rapid transitions when con- 
ditions are favorable, and a step is incumbent. In 
the thought of Kant, "Formation takes place by a 
shooting together" — 'he refers to a transition calledi 
crystallization, which takes place at once by a sal- 
tus,& sudden solidification, not a gradual transition 
from the fluid to the solid state. The most common 
example is the formation of a crystal of water, 
which combines' at angles of sixty degrees, while 
others attach themselves at each vertex. The crys- 
talline figures of many minerals, the cubic sulphide 
of lead, the ruby silver ore, etc., are formed; and 
probably by the shooting together of particles, be- 
come permanent and unite in definite external 
shapes. MJany of these mineral crystallizations pre- 
sent beautiful shapes, which the imitation of art 
can only conceive; and the halo of an electromag- 



270 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

neltic radiation — these are all beautiful in the worlldi 
of thought, while entirely beyond the reach of the 
finite imagination in sense representation. The 
question is asked : "What shows the principle of the 
Ideality of the purposiveness in the beauty of na- 
ture/' which we always place at the basis of an 
aesthetical judgment, and allows us to employ no 
realism of purpose as a means of explanation for 
our representative faculty? There is an answer in 
the fact that in forming a judgment of beauty wei 
invariably seek its gauge in ourselves, and that our 
aesthetical Judgment is itself legislative regarding 
the Judgment whether everything is beautiful or 
not; this compels us to accept without exception 
the real in the ideal nature of beauty as an ulti- 
mate truth. If nature had fashioned its forms for 
our satisfaction, the principle of purposivenesis 
would be objective arid not subjective, which de- 
pends upon the play of the free Imagination, where 
we receive nature with favor. The property of na- 
ture that gives us occasion to perceive the inner 
relation of purposive activity in our judging cer- 
tain of its products, cannot be a rational purpose, 
nor can it be judged as such; unless the judgment 
thus determined is free, as is fittingly characteris- 
tic of a true judgmient of taste. "In beautiful AJrt 
the principle of the Idealism of purposiveness is 
still clearer." But just as in the instance of the 
beautiful in nature "an aesthetical Bealism of this 
purposiveness cannot be perceived by sensations," 
else art could only be pleasant and not beautiful. 
The satisfaction, however, produced by aesthet- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OP TRUTH 271 

ical Ideas " Must not depenldj on the attain- 
ment of definite purposes/' as in art mathemati- 
cally designed; and consequently, "in the very ra- 
tionalism of the principle, the ideality of the pur- 
poses and not their reality miust be fundamental" ; 
this is clear from the fact that beautiful art, as 
such, cannot be considered merely as a creation of 
the Understanding and Science, but of Genius, anldi 
must therefore get its rule through aesthetical 
Ideas, which are somewhat different from rational 
Ideas of definite purposes. From Kant's point of 
view, "The ideality of the objects 1 of sense as phe- 
nomena is the only way of explaining the possi- 
bility of their forms being susceptible of a priori 
determinations," and the idealism of purposiveness 
in judging the beautiful in nature and art is the 
only hypothesis by which aesthetic criticism can 
explain the possibility of a judgment of taste that 
demjands universal validity. 

Beauty has well been regarded as a symbol of 
morality. It is like the bright star shining in its 
solitary splendor through a misty sky, when the 
night has passed into the succeeding light of an- 
other day ; when vegetation is taking a bath in the 
atmosphere so laden with vapor and mist, that, con-, 
densing, drops in dielicate freshness and purity 
from the trees to the dry, parched earth beneath. 
Beauty is the Lamp of Poetry; and the Poet de- 
clares, "Always keep the Lamp burning at Beauty's 
sacred Shrine." The Lamp may be extinguished 
in the night of prosaic life, but you will need it in 
your study of nature, and will have to strike a 



272 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

match with, transcendental Beauty on the way to 
your investigation for science, before you can dis- 
cover the diamond roundelay flashing a brilliant 
prismatic light against the door that opens to the 
realm of Truth. Then taking hold of the lock that 
"linketh noble minds/' and turning it leisurely, he 
may enter, anldi place the aesthetically shaded Lamp 
of Beauty in its place with the glasses of a super- 
natural vision of Truth. Then with the key that 
"■shuts the spring of love/' the Spirit may return 
for one brief farewell, but the Yogi or Hindoo seer 
of Black Magic, never. For time seems as if it were 
not, and there is a subtle magic in doors that are 
open when locked and locked when open. A pure 
Spirit is not subject to the laws of a material 
world; while anything of a spirit nature that par- 
takes of physical or materialistic conceptions or 
impressions is subject to the orderly laws of a 
physical Universe. 

Kant was fond of saying that Intuitions are al- 
ways required to establish the reality of concepts. 
If the concepts are empirical the intuitions are 
called examples. If then are pure concepts of the! 
understanding they are called schemjata. Kant 
finds it impossible to establish the objective reality 
of rational concepts on behalf of theoretical cog- 
nitions, because absolutely no adequate intuition 
can be given for them. All presentation is two- 
fold. It is either schematical, when an intuition 
is given corresponding to a concept comprehended 
by the understanding, or symbolical. In the latter 
when no sense intuition can be adequate to a pure 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 273 

concept of the Reason, an intuition is supplied with 
which a procedure of the Judgment, analogous to 
what it observes in schematism, agrees. Kant re- 
gards the symbolical mlode of representation as not 
opposed to the intuitive. The symbolical is a mode 
of the intuitive; and the intuitive may be divided 
into the schematical and symbolical modes of rep- 
resentation. Both are mere characterizations, or 
designations w T hich contain nothing belonging to 
the intuition of an object. They only serve as a 
means for reproducing the concepts, by the law of 
association in the invagination from a subjective 
point of view. All intuitions that are supplied to 
concepts a priori are either schemata or symbols, 
direct or indirect presentations of the concept. The 
former are demonstrative, the latter analogous, in 
wfhich the judgment exercises a double function ; 
first applying the concept to the object of a sense 
intuition, and then applying the mere form) to the 
reflection made upon that intuition to a different 
object of which the first is only the symbol. This! 
mlay be true of the more elementary forms of con- 
sciousness, but in the more complex and highly 
organized, I think this double process blends into 
one ; and it is the form of the concept placed upon 
an object that is perceived, and not & simple sense 
impression. If all reality exists only in and for 
mind, and the nature of beauty has its home in the 
mind, then it is only the beautiful that has any real 
objective existence. 

The Beautiful is the symbol of the morally Good, 
and in this aspect is pleasing and has a claim for 



274 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the agreement of everyone else. It exalts the mind 
in a certain noble consciousness that is above the 
mere sensibility to pleasure perceived through 
sense; and the worth of others is estimated like- 
wise by a maxim of their Judgment, Taste looks 
to the intelligible with which our higher cogni- 
tive faculties agree, and without this agreement 
there could be no harmony between their nature 
and the claims made by taste. In this faculty the 
Judgment does not see itself subjected to a heter- 
onomy of empirical laws. Pure taste is a law in 
itself, jusit as pure Reason is in respect to the fac- 
ulty of desire. 

The beautiful pleases immediately apart from 
any interest in reflective intuition; Goodness 
pleases in the conception of it and is wrapped up 
in an interest produced! 'by a judgment. And the 
freedom of the Imagination in judging the beau- 
tiful is represented as harmonious with conformity 
to law of the Understanding; while the freedom 
of the will in the moral judgment is thought as 
harmony with Self and the world according to 
universal laws of Reason. The subjective princi- 
ple in judging the beautiful is represented as valid 
fo^ everyone, though this is not to be known by 
cognition through any universal concept. The ob- 
jective principle of the moral law is set forth as 
universally valid also for every subject and is 
known by means of a universal concept, Kant 
thinks a reference to this analogy is usual even 
with the commlon Understanding of men, and beau- 
tiful objects of nature or art are often described 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TPvUTH 275 

by names that seem to put a moral appreciation 
at their basis. Architecture and natural objects 
are called majestic and magnificent; landscapes 
are laughing and gay; even colors are called in- 
nocent and modest, because they excite sensations 
that hare something analogous to a consciousness 
of the state of mind brought about by moral judg- 
ments. Taste rmakes possible the transition from 
the charm of sense to habitual moral interest, 
without a violent leap. It represents the Imagi- 
nation in its freedom as capable of purposive de- 
termination for the Understanding, and teaches 
us to find even in sensible objects a satisfying de- 
light, free and apart from any charm] of sense. 

The method of a critique of taste differs from 
that of any other critique, since there is not nor 
can be a science of the beautiful, and the judg- 
ment of taste is not dieterminable by means of 
principles. There is a certain scientific element 
in art, namely, truth in the presentation of its 
object. This is an indispensable condition; with- 
out it there could be no beautiful art itself. There 
is for beautiful art only a manner of teaching 
and not a method. The master must show the 
pupil what to do and how to do it; and the uni- 
versal rules under which a method of procedure 
is finally brought, serve rather for bringing the 
main points back to remembrance, when occasion 
requires, rather than prescribing any set rules. 
But nevertheless regard must always be had for 
a certain ideal, that art must have in view, though 
it may not be comipletely attainable in practice. 



276 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

It is through exciting the Imagination •with a 
given conception, that the adequacy of the expres- 
sion for the Idea becomes evident, and because it 
is an aesthetical Idea a single intellectual con- 
cept cannot fully grasp or contain it. Thus art 
is harmonized with the natural simplicity and 
models for imitation without subjecting them to 
higher standards of independent judgments, Thus 
genius and the freedom of the imagination is saved 
from falling into rigid conformity to law, whereby 
it might lose its characteristic nature, which is 
essentially that of conformity to law without a 
law. Without this neither beautiful art, nor an 
accurately judging individual taste, is possible. 
The outlook of all beautiful art, regarded in the 
highest degree of its perfection, is not in precepts, 
but in the culture of the mental powers by means 
of those elements of knowledge which indicate the 
universal feeling of sympathy, and the faculty oi 
communicating universally our inmiost feelings. 
These properties taken togethpr make up the char- 
acteristic spirit of a society. 

An age and people under the impulse and in 
fluence of a law abiding social life that makes <\ 
permanent community, is confronted with the dif- 
ficulties of uniting freedom and equality with com- 
pulsion. Such conditions point to the discovery 
of the art of reciprocal communication of Ideas 
between the cultured and not/ cultured classes; 
and the largemindedness and refinement of the one 
is prevented from taking examples as types and 
originality of the other. Thus is found the mean 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 277 

between the higher culture and simple nature 
winch furnishes the true standard for taste as 
something universal to all miankind, that no gen- 
eral rules can supply. As life becomes more artis- 
tic and refined, the higher the value placed on the 
elite of a race or society. For without having per- 
manent examples before it, a concept in one and 
the same people of a happy union of a law-abiding 
constraint of the highest culture with the force 
and truth of free nature that feels its own proper 
worth — is hardly possible. 

The very heart of taste is a faculty for judging 
the presentation of moral Ideas, and this is devel- 
oped, refined and sustained by reflection and keep- 
ing the hand on the pulse of a living world. 



BOOK TWO 



Logic and Imagination in the 
Perception of Truth 

BOOK TWO. 



THE DIVINE REASON, LOVE OR LOGOS 
OF THE UtNIVERSE. 

"And Jesus said unto them> I am the bread of 
life : lie that cometh to me shall never hunger; 
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. " 

(John 6:35) 

As Christianity conceives it the charm of re- 
ligion centers in the Character of God. His intel- 
ligent Presence through the elements of His Being 
transcends timie and outwings space. But what 
invites our confidence, attracts our love and is 
most comforting, is the magnificent truth of His 
supreme sovereignty clothed with m'oral attributes 
and qualities, However, to set forth the Principle 
and be a complete revelation of tihe Ohiaractjer 
expressed in God's Life is more than any one in- 
dividual can do; yet as mirrors transmit sugges- 
tions of broad landscapes, so may each individual, 
in the presence of a fellow Being, hold two ex- 
pressions of Christian faith in which are mirrored 



282 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the beauty of the Character of Godi: "God is 
Light"; God is Love. 

Light — physical, intellectual and ethical — is a 
symbol of the Character of God; and the essen- 
tial property of light is actively positive. In 
the more special psychological phenomena it is 
known to be closely related with the construc- 
tive power of creative Mind, and like physical 
light associates iteslf with vision. Physical 
light associates itself with thoughts of heaven- 
ly splendor. Even the earthly play of sun- 
shine on a glittering sea, or the flashing peaks 
of snowy mountains, or the hues of flowers and 
birds and gems — are to the poet's eye 

"The splendid scenery of the sky, 
Where through a saphire sea, the sun 
Sails like a golden galleon." 

Intellectual light dispelling ignorance, error, 
falsehood, by illuminating hidden paths and mak- 
ing clear the actuality of Eeality according to the 
Truth! Intellectual light stands for Self knowl- 
edge — the mind shining upon itself, perfection of 
wisdom, correct judgment and the identification 
of Truth with Self. Ethical light stands for right- 
eousness ; radiant as the noon-day sun, clear, stead- 
fast, unchanging; a pure whiteness blending all 
moral perfections; the glory of goodness, the 
beauty of holiness. 

As physical light suggests outshining glory and 
splendor, so the Infinite One reveals Himiself in 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 283 

personal character. God is Spirit with distinctive 
qualities of radiant perfection. All things are 
"open before the eyes of Him," and "in Him is 
no darkness at all." God is moral light. "Right- 
eousness and judgment are the habitations of his 
throne." His thoughts, His will, His purpose are 
notes of ethical completeness. The nature of light 
is to shine, and the splendor of the intellectual 
and mioral light of the Character of God is ex- 
pressive in manifestation. "God is what He is, 
not for Himself alone. He is Light in the expres- 
siveness of His Being that He may be known. 
Because He is, He shines, and men live in His 
light." 

God is also Love in the highest sense of that 
termi. Love is of God and is the outgoing of 
yearning thought, seeking response and comiple- 
tion through response. If God in His timeless 
essence is love, and love involves subject audi ob- 
ject and self -completion througlh response, then 
the Divine Essence must contain within itself per- 
sonal distinction, for love to be realized. In God's 
world of pure and holy intelligence, Love is the 
very Life of personal Being, and its origin is in 
God. It is Heaven born and not a thing of time, 
to come and pass away. Many things are summed 
up in the one supremle consideration, "You shall 
know yourself," and find your life in the mystery 
of Infinite Being; in the Eternal world which is 
God's world and our world in the self -realizing, 
self-completing Oneness of Him who reveals Him- 



284 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

self to the finite understanding as the Father, the 
Son, the Holy Spirit. 

Love to God and love to man are essential prin- 
ciples of New Testament religion. In fact, there 
can be no true religion where these principles 
are not fundamental or of first importance. Jesus 
declares that on these two commandments hang 
all the law and the prophets. It is the heart of 
the Jewish as well as the Christian religion. These 
two principles are not independent or co-ordinate, 
but they are so related that the second springs 
from or is conditioned by the first. Love to man 
in the Biblical sense, springs from a renewed heart 
possessed with the Love of God ; for only thus can 
the view of man's essential worth and dignity, the 
view of the true ends of his life — be taken; and 
the possibilities of his recovery from sin, are per- 
ceived. This is what makes love possible. It re- 
quires such a heart or mind to conquer the egois- 
tic impulse, which leads man to regard others as 
rivals to himself, and to seek his own good in 
preference to others, trying to use them as means 
to his own ends, treating them with indifference 
and neglect — that narrow impulse leading mian 
to regard those, wiho collide with his own inter- 
ests, with envy, irritation and resentment. It is 
only in the heart or mind that has been renewed 
and possessed by the Love of God, that there is 
a disposition or sufficiently powerful motive to 
sustain a holy, spiritual, ungrudging, truly disin- 
terested love to our fellowmen, even to those who 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 285 

have no claims upon us, or who may be personally 
unworthy. 

It is vain for man to profess to love God, if 
that love does not go forth in Godlike activity. 
The love to God which generates love to man, 
has its source in the knowledge we have of the 
Love God has for us. And it is the loving Char- 
acter of God revealed in His Word and acts, audi 
particularly in His grace in Christ, culminating 
in the sacrifice on the cross, joined with the love 
Christ Himself has manifested, that begets and 
calls forth responsive love, and leads to the entire 
surrender of the Self to God, serving Him by go- 
ing forth a constant revelation and type in the 
Kingdom of Heaven, an activity worthy of the 
life and works of angels. 

This love changes negative precepts into posi- 
tive ones, and leads man to seek his neighbor's 
highest well-being in soul and body. In this one 
word is the whole law fulfilled. Again, the ex- 
ample of Jesus in his earthly life is the interpre- 
tation of the depth and range of his precept, in 
its practical beneficence, its compassion for the 
lost, its forgiveness of injuries, and its voluntary 
self-sacrifice for others, even unto death. "Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

It is magnificently brought out in that incom- 
parable hymn of love chanted by St. Paul in the 
13th chapter of I Corinthians. "How high and 
wide-reaching the spiritual requirements of this 
law of love are — how love is patient and kind; 
excludes envy; is humlble: not easily provoked; 



286 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

does not impute motives; mourns over iniquity, 
and rejoices in truth; endures wrong; believes the 
best; where it cannot believe, hopes; where it can- 
not even hope, suffers." In this principle of love, 
as we are taught by Christ's example, and by 
apostolic teaching, there is not only the fulfill- 
ing of the law, but a great, indeed the chiefest, 
part of practical religion. And the King is rep- 
resented as searching into precisely these deeds 
of love at the great last day of account, and it is 
by their presence or absence that men's everlast- 
ing destinies are adjudged. 

In the most flourishing times of Judaism, Scrip- 
ture was regarded the inspired and inspiring Word 
of God. And they looked forward to a timte when 
this would be incarnate in the complete and per- 
fect Life of the God-man. The most beautiful 
flower of Jewish piety and religion was its sacred 
lyrical poetry. Many of the Psalms admitted to 
belong to the centuries after the exile express the 
pure and pious feeling called forth by the reading 
of the law and the prophets in the temple. The 
law and the prophets for the pious Israelite ex- 
pressed the whole nature of God, and he came to 
regard it as the ultimate revelation, valid for all 
timte, even for eternity; the tree of life, the true 
food of the soul, the crown and source of all right 
living. "These two sides of the Jewish piety — the 
individfualisim of the heart religion of the Psalmls," 
and the socialism of the prophetic Idea of the 
Kingdom were comjbined in the Character of 
Jesus; united in a unique religious geneality. The 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 287 

intimate union with God recognized in the pious 
poets of the Psalms, was the current of his life 
that clothed itself in the image of the most natural 
and intimate bond of fellowship. But this inti- 
mate union with God did not make him indifferent 
to the world or the needs of his people. He saw 
in God not only his own Father, bu't the Father 
of all. "Ye shall be perfect as your Father in 
Heaven is perfect." This heartfelt love to God 
became for Him the motive of active and patient 
love, and constrained him to offer the rest and 
joyfulness he possessed in co-conscious relation 
with God to as many as received Him,. His love 
awakened love in return; His trust in God awak- 
ened the courage of faith, and thus the humble and 
mteek teacher became the healer of the sick, the 
leader of the blind), and the great deliverer of the 
captives. Recognizing in these results proofs of 
the victorious pow r er of the Divine Spirit, the hope 
of the early coming of the Kingdom of God be- 
came to Him a certainty that it had already be- 
gun. "The perfection of the principle of the divine 
consciousness in Jesus was the redeeming power 
which appeared in Him as personal life." The 
truly beautiful quality of Goodness, the universal, 
rational will or divine Logos, realizing Self in the 
history of humanity and reaching the highest point 
in Christ, but immanent in all reality ! The innate 
reason, the imiage of God, the light of life ! Every 
thought rising to the light of Truth, every good 
deed that furthers and preserves the moral order, 
is a revelation of the divine Spirit redeeming man- 



288 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

kind from crude nature, educating into the glor- 
ious liberty of the children of God. 

The life of the really existing world flows into 
the life of our ideas. No one liveth to himself 
alone, and if we do influence others constantly we 
are manifestly under obligations not only to "do 
direct service" but so to order our own lives as 
to help and never to hinder others. What we owe 
others in our highest and best Self. In giving the 
true Self this essentially lives and grows and de- 
velops personality. And the Ideal once formed 
becomles a part of the Self, the highest Self spring- 
ing from the unity of all the faculties, a divine 
radiance emanating from the soul. Character is 
never a disconnected aggregate, it represents the 
w<hole life, and should it not be the chief aim to 
center the thoughts, the will and the affections on 
a worthy Ideal; an Ideal that will lead through 
all the varieties of experience and come out en- 
larged, enriched, the expression of a reality worthy 
of the high destiny set for man. 

George Eliot says, "Ideas pass athwart us in 
their vapor, and cannot make themselves felt." But 
sometimes they are clothedi in a human form. 
"They breathe upon us with warm breath; they 
touch us with soft responsive hands, they look at 
us with sad, sincere eyes, and speak to us in ap- 
pealing tones; they are clothed in a human soul, 
with all its conflicts, its faith and its love. Then 
their presence is a power, then they shake us like 
a passion, and we are drawn after them with gentle 
compulsion, as flame is drawn to flamle." 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 289 

It is the very nature of perfect goodness, perfect 
beauty and perfect love to "attach the miind and 
heart to themselves in glad! and entire allegiance." 
The Divine principle of Love, fine thought and 
feeling, is the perfection of the Christian Ideal. 
It is God revealed to man in the Christ life. If 
we have this Spirit we are heirs with Him of the 
eternal glory of the Father. But if we profess 
to believe that God is Divine Love, and do not 
stretch forth a helping hand to soothe the restless 
sobbings of a world, we deny our creed. We are 
in the world to make it brighter, better and hap- 
pier. If w r e do this we are imitators of God, and 
have that all - embracing Spirit pervading all 
things; and yet transcends them all, rising higher 
and higher in the transcendent realm; of Truth. 
And we can be impressed with the divine thought 
manifested in the beauty and harmony of nature 
around us; the glorious blending of colors in the 
sky at sunset, even to the tiny flower by the way- 
side. If we love the works of God and recognize 
in them His thought and design we shall grow in 
grace and become more and more like Him whom 
to know and love is Life Eternal. 

Someone has said those who tread wisely the mid- 
dle path of existence will approach nearest the ideal 
happiness- Happiness cannot be obtained directly. 
Do you desire it for yourself, it evades your grasp. 
Happiness is found only in producing happiness; 
and by the mysterious law of sympathy, the happi- 
ness of one insures an increase of happiness in the 



290 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

other, vibrating on in endless variety through 
eternity. 

Would you enter the sanctuary where troubles 
and cares are excluded, and enjoy a peaceful glad- 
ness that forever exalts the mind in the conscious- 
ness of inner harmony and beauty? Then think 
and act in unison with truth and justice. Live in 
sympathy with nature, loving the silent music of 
the waves, the glory and sublimity of ocean and 
sky, develop that sympathy with genius that may 
discern the beauty of a poem, the spiritual expres- 
sion of a face, and the soul of a picture from the 
master handi of an artist. Man does not need to 
be rich and powerful to enter the realm where 
flows the "rippling river of joy." In the elysian 
fields of thought there are symphonies of truth that 
touch and charm the heart and keep alive the faith 
and zeal of youth. The supreme manifestation of 
loving power, is the intangible loveliness and ma- 
jesty of a Christ-like Spirit. What can be more 
sublime and overwhelming than the scene on cal- 
vary ! Innocence on the cross, and the dark ocean 
of humanity surging beneath him; a transparent 
life allowing the glory of the Character of God 
to shine through, but no one to perceive it. Even 
the countenance of nature was darkened, and 
frowned typical of the darkness in the stream oi; 
human life. 

What shall we say of a bead of dew suspended 
on a twig of the vegetable world ; only a little par- 
ticle so common as water, but distilled as it were 
from a more refined element existing only in the 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 291 

air. It proclaims a truth and power invincible — 
the manifestation of perfect purity in a lower 
sphere of reality, receiving the ethereal vibrations 
of light, separating and blending them with such 
beauty and purity of iight and color that makes 
us think nature must cling to her beautiful crea- 
tions with all her heart. We find beauty in life, 
vital change, activity ; in the development of living 
things is their most perfect beauty. It is not when 
the flower is cut that it is loveliest. Said one of 
the Neo-Platonist writers: "That which sees must 
be kindred and similar to its object, before it can 
see it. The eye could never have beheld the sun, 
had it not become sunlike. The mind could never 
have perceived the beautiful, had it not first be- 
come beautiful itself. Every one must partake of 
the Divine nature, before he can discern the di- 
vinely beautiful. " 

"Beauty is thus the eternal \6yoS, the word or rea- 
son of the universe, dimly shadowed forth by sym- 
bols" Objects are beautiful when they are filled 
with this logos; and the soul of the artist, if sus- 
ceptible to Beauty, drinks it in and overflows with 
the logos of the Universe ; and his creations may be 
finer, richer, and more beautiful than nature itself. 
Tennyson has well said : 

"The type of perfect in the mind 
In nature we can nowhere find." 

That which conforms to an ideal or standard, 
agreeing with what ought to be, is righteous. The 



292 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

unchristian Greek regarded righteousness chiefly 
a social virtue. Ulsage and custom prescribed for 
him\ the standard of righteousness and measured 
its elevation. With New Testament writers right- 
eousness is above all things a religious word — 
righteous according to the Divine standard; con- 
formity to the will and nature of God Himself. 
To the Christian the Character of God is Absolute 
moral Perfection, and righteousness in men is a 
name for the disposition and method of life that 
agrees or unites with God's holy will. Righteous- 
ness is Godlikeness. 

Hold fast the quality of Godlikeness thou hast; 
open the windows of thy life to the supreme and 
all-embracing Goodness of God; find a place for 
thy goodness in the lives of others. This is the 
way to live; this is the way to be happy; this is 
the way to go out into society through an ideal 
relation with all. 

"Hold that fast w i hich thou hast and no one 
will take thy crown/' which is in Life Eternal. 



II. 

COAOTIVITY WITH GOD. 

The Free Spirit of Christian Experience. "And 
we are His witnesses of these things, and so is also 
the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that 
obey Him." 

"The sinful world has no understanding or ap- 
preciation of the life of those who live in the fel- 
lowship of the divine Love, because evil is as con- 
trary to love as darkness is to light." 

The supreme love of pleasures and the possessions 
of the temporary order, is inconsistent with love 
to the Father of Spirits. Such love of the world 
is not consistent with moral likeness to God. 
Every one born into the life of love sets his hope 
on attaining a purity like that of Christ. Every 
one that hath this hope set on him purifieth even 
as he is pure. To do righteousness and to love 
one's neighbor are inseparable elements of the life 
which is begotten of God. Sin is lovelessness, and 
they that love not abide in death. The possession 
of love is eternal life. Love includes not only the 
self-imparting activity in God, but also his self- 
assertion against sin, the energy of his holy nature 
repudiating its opposite. Love includes benevo- 
lence and righteousness, and the exercise of the 
divine love is regulated by the demands of abso- 
lute holiness. This love is the mpst adequate defi- 



294 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

nition of the moral nature and the best compen- 
dium of the Christian Idea of God. "Every one 
that loveth knoweth God, for God is love." We 
have to <do with something more than the intellec- 
tual knowing. It is the knowledge that is pos- 
sible only in the living fellowship and through 
kinship of Spirit. It is the knowledge that comes 
by welcoming the divine light which shines down 
into the sinful world. It is the knowledge that 
comes by walking in the light. Such a knowledge 
has been opened to men and the way shown to fel- 
lowship with God. "The Son of God hath given 
us an understanding, that we know him that is 
true," and such knowledge is absolutely required 
to realize the eternal life. This knowledge involves 
the whole nature and is mian'si entire availability 
in the God-given Idea. It is something more than 
mysticism, and involves the will as w.ell as the in- 
tellect and feeling. The knowledge of God is at- 
tained by love, and love requires the doing of God's 
commandments. Such knowledge is acquired only 
on the path of obedience. It is practical. He who 
lives a Godlike life, knows God. He knows Christ 
who walks with him and keeps his commiandments. 
This degree of ethical love never loses itself in 
mere devout ecstasies or subjective phantasies. It 
deals with men's cares and labors of every day not 
to degrade the knowledge of God to the level of 
other knowledge, but to exalt ethical life and re- 
ligious service by showing how it leads up to God- 
likeness and the consequent realization of the eter- 
nal life. 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 295 

In the heights of this Godlike range of knowl- 
edge, wisdom is found an agent of God accomplish- 
ing Bis gracious will and purpose. Wisdom re- 
spected by an Old Testament hero has been the 
secret of life securely hidden from the common ob- 
servation of men. It is the "path, which no bird 
of prey knoweth, and which the falcon's eye hath 
not seen." But God knoweth where it dwells and 
He has declared it unto men. 

"Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; 
and to depart from evil is understanding." Wis- 
dom, God's messenger, lifts up her voice in the 
street and at the gates of the city and bids men 
walk in her pure and pleasant ways: "Unto you, 

men, I call; and my voice is unto the sons of 
mien." 

Jehovah formed and established her from ever- 
lasting, before the world was made. Wisdom was 
his companion when he settled the mountains, es- 
tablished the heavens and curbed the sea: "Then 

1 was by him as a master workman, and I was 
daily his delight; rejoicing always before him; re- 
joicing in his habitable earth; and my delight was 
with the sons of men." 

These poetic forms of thought setting forth the 
idea of God's active energy, His self-revealing na- 
ture, are ways of describing the living God, who 
does not remain shut up within himself, but ex- 
presses His nature in acts of power and in works 
of benevolence and grace. 

Wisdom is the first creation of God, and becomes 
the friend of all who fear and love Him. She is 



296 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the voice of God and inhabits the remote places of 
earth and heaven, but in a special manner she is 
with His people, and has established her throne 
in Zion. She makes her instruction shine as the 
morning and sends forth her light afar — her doc- 
trine for the benefit of the m!ost distant genera- 
tions. She is one to be loved above health and 
beauty, and chosen before light. She is "the artifi- 
cer of all things/* a subtle Spirit, holy, and "more 
mobile than any motion"* — penetrating all things 
by reason of her pureness. "For she is a breath 
of the power of God, and a pure effulgence from 
the glory of the almighty; therefore no defiling 
thing falls into her; for she is a reflection of the 
everlasting light, an unspotted! mirror of the effi- 
ciency of God and image of Hjis goodness. And 
though but one she can do all things; and though 
remlaining in herself, she maketh all things new; 
and from generation to generation entering into 
holy souls, she equippeth friends of God and pro- 
phets."' Wisdom is more beautiful than the sun, 
and compared with light is found superior — above 
every space of stars, God loveth him who dwells 
with wisdom. 

The divine love has offered itself to mian and 
given its treasure for his free heritage, joy and 
delight. In Christ God has called mjen into the 
fellowship of His own beatific life and made them 
partakers of His own perfection. "Behold what 
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, 
that we should be called the children of God : and 
such we are,"' when we know God and conform our 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 297 

life to His life, not after the image of this world, 
but in the likeness of Him, whose Being is eter- 
nally in the heavens. 

"The conceptions commonly formed of the mind 
and soul of man have ever been transferred to 
the divine nature/' with mJore or less qualification 
and extension. This has especially been the case 
where there is little or no philosophical thinking, 
particularly so in primitive times. Scripture is 
no exception to the rule, that the ideas men can 
conceive about God are affected by their knowledge 
of themselves. The idea of the Olivine will in Scrip- 
ture is chiefly formed by what man is told of the 
attitude of God's Mind and His purpose for man, 
which leads to action on God's part whereby the 
action of the humian will must necessarily be con- 
ditioned, where there is no harmony between the 
humian and Divine will. The Light of revelation 
falls on both the human and Divine will in the 
sphere of their relations to one another, the rela- 
tion of a Divine frindship and love. 

"We are witnesses of these things and so is also 
the Holy Spirit whom God hath given to them 
that obey Him." To be a witness means to be con- 
secrated heart and mind to a single purpose. When 
all the fragments of moral and spiritual truths 
taught in Scripture regarding Divine grace and 
human responsibility are gathered up, the testi- 
mony of the Bible is clear, that the Spirit of God 
is the source of all moral and spiritual good, that 
Divine grace must be present with and must pre- 
cede all rightful action of the human will, that 



298 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

this grace is bestowed in some measure upon all, 
always with the design of leading on to salvation ; 
but it rests with mankind to respond to the Divine 
love, and yield to the attractive power of the Ideal 
Life. 

If we are cognizant of the value of Hegel's 
motto : "Be a person and respect others as per- 
sons," our first reasonable inquiry would be what 
is the foundation of true personality? Primarily 
is it not the power to clearly grasp an imaginary 
condition of ourselves, which is preferable to any 
other alternative, and to translate that potential 
ideal into an accomplished fact? But perceiving 
the Ideal and yet failing to translate its potency 
into an accomplished, energetic reality, or permit- 
ting any motive less noble and imperative to de- 
termine the will, undoubtedly misses the mark of 
personality, while on the other hand, if the Ideal 
is held before the mind so clearly that all external 
things that favor are chosen for love of the Ideal, 
and all intuitioniS or actions that would hinder 
rejected by its miighty power, man rises to the 
level of personality, and his "personality is of that 
clear, strong, joyous, compelling, conquering, tri- 
umphant" kind worthy of the name. The second 
and most vital consideration is to have a valid 
and worthy idieal that will lead through all the 
varieties of experience and come out a supreme 
reality worthy of the high destiny of mian. 

The sentiment of love and trust goes out unre- 
servedly toward that alone which can be admired, 
and is adapted to every faculty of the soul and 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 299 

sufficient for all its needs. Some one has said that 
"the permutations" we can "make of these several 
ideal objects, and the interplay of sentiments/' are 
"extremely fascinating to a disciplined mind." 
And to encounter one of these ultimate realities 
without a high sense of fine thought and feeling, 
is abnormal to an extent shocking "to a mind that 
discovers in itself such unresponsiveness." At any 
event, when they are all combined in one view and 
the all-inclusive Ideal is faced, and to be inspired, 
almost overpowered against all odids of skepti- 
cism, is undoubtedly to be recognized as a percep- 
tion or vision of realities, and that they are all 
phases of one Reality. The human will by virtue 
of liberty is capable of being determined imime- 
diately by the moral law, and frequent practice 
in accordance with this principle of determination 
can at least produce subjectively a feeling of sat- 
isfaction; it is a duty to establish and cultivate 
this which alone deserves to be called properly 
the moral feeling. But the practical principles 
of determination, taken as the foundation of mor- 
ality, man bases on reason, with perfection as a 
quality of things and the Highest perfection their 
essence. Man defines their perfection in himself 
as talent or skill. Sufficiency for the fulfilment 
of a purpose. Supreme perfection is the sufficiency 
of a Being for all ends ; this Perfection is God, who 
can only be thought by mjeans of rational con- 
cepts. But that perfection may relatively become 
the determining principle of the will, ends or final 
purposes must first be given. 



300 



LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 



Virtue is a naturally acquired faculty — the certain- 
ty of one's rules of conduct and their disposition to 
advance. But msere virtue alone can never be per- 
fect. Perfection means a union of virtue with some- 
thing still higher and freer. Inclinations or im- 
pulses are often powerful incentives to great ac- 
complishments and high attainments, but they 
should not be followed unless they run in the 
right direction. Herein lies the value of the dis- 
covery and the conquest of self, that man may 
choose that state or the causes that leadi to per- 
fection and freedom. In contact with the facts 
of human experience, man's reasoning is often dif- 
ferent from that of pure synthetic reasoning in 
which the will is fixed by perception of an ulti- 
mate, all-embracing and unifying Ideal in which 
the highest and best and holiest aspirations of 
mjankind meet in a harmonious conception of free- 
dom, with the consequent rise of the higher feel- 
ings and restful poise of the soul, as in the con- 
templating idea of the beautiful, light, love and 
truth. 

Can we think the Divine Idea of the ordered! 
Universe, and of the deep joy of seeing that Idea 
fulfilling itself? Think also of the delight of a 
duty which has become a supreme pleasure, and 
we would have in some degree cognizance of the 
law that rules in an Ideal Kingdom,' of personal 
Beings, 

"Education," some one has said, "first awakens 
the spirit to the sense of itself, and then through 
a careful process, along a royal road made by the 



IN THE PEBCEPTION OF TRUTH 301 

supreme teachers, it draws it on out of itself into 
a vast community of spirits with a common his- 
tory and a common destiny. But powerful as 
education is, it is still nothing but an awakener. 
It cannot force the process of insight. The moral 
individual moist see the next step before it can 
be taken. For the individual there is no moral 
Avorld until it is seen by that individual. There- 
fore the architecture of the race is not available 
for the individual, except as he is led to construct 
an image of it out of his own mioral experience." 
Thus the consciousness of mioral personality is 
exalted until it becomes the sovereign fact of ex- 
perience. If a man has found sympathy and is con- 
secrated in sublime unity of purpose to the serv- 
ice of the Master Architect he is free, and God is 
as sovereign as though there were no humanity. 

Happy is the man or woman, who have conse- 
crated their life in self-sacrifice on the altar of 
Christian freedom, until they know that they have 
their existence in the Absolute Self - conscious 
Mind, in whom we live and move and have our 
being, and in whose power we are at every mo- 
ment. When each one can say in his finiteness, 
"I am" because Love is the essence of my life. 
I exist, not because I see or hear, or think or feel, 
but because of the relation I sustain to other ra- 
tional or spiritual Beings in an Ideal Kingdom 
of perfected personalities the essence of wfliose life 
and unity is the Law of Love, the Light of the 
world, the eternal Logos. 

The world ground is rational and instinct with 



302 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

God. Men of many different spheres of life have 
given evidence to this, from material scientist to 
the highest ethical teacher. As a noted writer has 
said, " The unfathomable depths of the Divine, 
counsels were moved, the fountains of the great 
deep were broken up; the healing of the nations 
was issuing forth; but nothing was seen on the 
surface of human society but this slight rippling 
of the water." 

"He emptied Himself, taking the form of a 
slave, being made in the likeness of man." 

And each member of the higher order of spir- 
itual friendship established, can say with a feel- 
ing of assurance: My relation with this power 
gives me peace and makes me more energetic and 
active in my work of trying to realize my highest 
Ideals; a confiidlence and always a willingness to 
consecrate and give the highest and best of my 
efforts and attainments for the highest and best 
and freest and most lovable influences in those 
who are friends of this spiritual order, faithful 
and true — the operation of a saving faith on the 
grounds of conviction knowledge and belief. The 
more we studty and learn what Christ was and is, 
and how he lived, and what he has done, the deeper 
is the conviction of the uniqueness of his life and 
the truth of the incarnation. When the fullness 
of time was comie God sent forth His Son. If we 
would see Him, we must leave the crowd of faith- 
less disciples, as Origen said, and ascend the heights 
of spiritual perception. "The natural man receiv- 
eth not the things of the spirit of God because they 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 303 

are foolishness unto him" — spiritual things are 
spiritually discerned. The spiritually minded dis- 
cern the truth by the union of the intellect and 
the heart, and receive all the gifts of the Divine 
Spirit in their fullness: " The spirit of wisdom 
and understanding, of counsel and power/' of 
prayer and the knowledge and love of God. In the 
strength of this abiding presence does Christ show 
Himself to be the Perfect King. 

Christian faith is like a grand edifice, with di- 
vinely pictured windows. Stand without and you 
see no glory and cannot imagine any ; stand within 
and each ray of light reveals a harmony of un- 
speakable splendor. For the emotional needs to 
be satisfied, the head, so to speak, must will to 
divide authority with the heart if faith is to exert 
its greatest influence in human life. The religious 
thinker gifted with spiritual insight may find in 
the historical narratives a support for his endeavor 
to reach out to an understanding of things that 
belong to a higher realm. For the philosopher the 
gymjbois may also have a meaning. He feels that 
his system of thought is not in contradiction with 
the traditions of the past, since he can discern 
their real meaning. But the religious instinct of 
the soul to seek its Master is first aroused by the 
aid of an intellectual process, and is essentially 
a quality of fine feeling, that normally culminates 
in a high expression of the art of life, ethical, 
aesthetical, etc., with the recognition of reciprocity 
in personal life, pervaded by heart ideals. 

Religion cannot be purely subjective. The whole 



304 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

process of this development in man may, indeed, 
be viewed as a "constant struggle between the 
emotions and the intellect, in which the latter 
gradually claims the mastery." Man does not seek 
the source of his intellectual life and of his spir- 
itual life in tradition or ancient forms, but in the 
uniting and energizing power rising to blossom in 
the flower of universal life, the culmination of the 
highest aspirations of all the ages of development. 
This union of the professional with the generous 
spirit of the man who has fallen in love with his 
work, I think is not an impossible ideal. As some 
one has said, "Many of us are fortunate enough 
to recognize in some friend this combination of 
qualities, this union of strict professional training 
with that free outlook upon life, that humsan cu- 
riosity and eagerness, which are the best endow- 
ment of the amateur. Such are indeed rare, but 
they are prized accordingly." 

Thus studying the sources in a historical way 
often explains much of the mystical element in 
some modern forms of occult thought and religious 
aberrations, and clears the way of the understand- 
ing for the perception of the true nature of reli- 
gious activity as an art of life and social commun- 
ion that is possible only in the higher orders of 
Being, Spiritual personality, characterized by the 
Christian virtues and graces of the Divine Master; 
free from every touch of imperfection. 

To use the w<ords of a noted writer: "Even in the 
worst conditions of human society there have been 
discoverable here and there a soaring witness to 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 305 

the inioral structure of the universe. The tops of 
the mountains cannot long remain submlergedi : 
through the aspirations of human souls the deep- 
est becomes the highest. And moral evil is not 
here to stay. History is the record of the great 
abating process in the mystery of iniquity. It is 
man's privilege to accelerate this decrease, and to 
receive for his recompense the vision of a brighter 
future for his kind on the earth. Some day the 
flood will be gone, and men will build an altar to 
the Most High in the unveiled and glorious pres- 
ence of the moral universe. Then will be verified 
the sublime insight of Jesus, which today is our 
confiding and yet audacious faith, that the uni- 
verse is our Father's house." The uniform laws 
which look so mechanical from: without, are sur- 
prisingly adapted to man's individual condition 
when honestly viewed from within. We know our- 
selves as spiritual. Our thought outwings space; 
our love overcomes time; our freedom transcends 
the laws of material existence. Our activity is 
in another world, wherein we are yet beginners; 
quick with aspirations, faculties and powers, that 
claim for their due development an illimitable life. 
The home that man now inhabits may be but one 
of many mansions he is ultimately destined to 
possess. 

Says a poet with a touch of a great and beau- 
tiful imagination : 



*£> a 



"Star to star vibrates light; may not soul to soul, 
Strike through some finer element of her own?" 



306 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

"Man though human by nature is capable of con- 
ceiving the Idea of God, of entering into strong, 
close, tender, and purifying relations with God, 
and even of participating in God's perfection and 
happiness." 

If you have taken steps in imitation of your 
Master, let your eye be single and your faith firm. 
The great apostle saw in the Spirit of Christ the 
source of the vital unity which inspires the 
Church, the quickening and compacting power of 
the New Creation. But he teaches also with equal 
clearness that the Spirit has come to regenerate 
and restore the personal life of each of the bap- 
tized, identifying Himself with the human spirit 
in its struggle with the world and its striving after 
God, until He has perfected the nature, which the 
Son of God redeemed, and has raised it to the 
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 

Have you thus been brought into the relation of 
the Spirit with the Church Universal, the King- 
dom of Hieaven? He co-operates with you in your 
witness to Christ, For "The Spirit and the bride 
say, come. And let him that heareth say, come." 
His voice is joined) with that of the bride in calling 
for the bridegroom's return. Yet the need of the 
individual is not overlooked, and the last mention 
of the Spirit in the apocalypse refers to it: "Let 
him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let 
him take the water of life freely." "He which tes- 
tifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. 
Amien. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 307 

"A soul as white as Heaven * * * thou 

shalt flourish in immortal youth, unhurt amid the 
wars of elements, the wrecks of time, and the crush 
of worlds." The fire of an exalted, true, pure and 
holy love refines all things, eliminates sin from 
the world; and the Prince of Peace supremely 
reigns eternally. 



III. 

THE UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE IN FAITH 
AND LOVE. 



"At tihat day ye shall know that I am in my 
Father, and ye in me and I in you," (John 14 :20. ) 

In the present day there is a greater need than 
ever before for -Christians to take ia istand for 
Christ and the principles of Christianity. When 
men assail the finality of Christianity they may 
think they attack the essential principles, but prob- 
ably they are far from it. Like the ugly moth that 
never displays itself in the bright sunlight, they 
seek some lesser light and are lured to their des- 
truction; or else in the presence of the morning 
light, brightening into the eternal day, they seek 
some shady place in the darknesb- of obscurity. 

True the institutional church may go if Chris- 
tians persist in settling down in a kind) of spiritual 
satisfaction with a co-conscious relation with God, 
and do not enter into his labors — 'but Christianity 
shall never pass away. Did not Jesus say on one 
occasion, " My Father worketh hitherto and I 
work." 

Find your true heritage divinely given and let 
Christ live in your individual lives. Christianity 
does not need an apology; but, like the beautiful, 
is its own excuse for being. When Jesus knew 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 309 

in himself that his disciples murmured at the 
wordis of life he declared unto them, he said, 
"Doth this cause you to stumble? What then if 
ye should see the Son of man ascending where he 
was before? It is the spirit that giveth life; the 
flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have 
spoken unto you are spirit and are life. But there 
are some of you that believe not," And "This is 
the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he 
hath sent." 

The coming of Christ and the new birth, when 
thought is an occasion characterized by joy, brings 
good- will or kindly feeling among people generally. 
And it is perfectly that such a feeling should exist. 
It has its existence in facts that lie at the very 
source of our spiritual life. In every one of us 
there is, or at least has been at some time in -life, 
a longing for God. A longing coming from ! the in- 
most depths of our natures to know more about 
the Character of God. This longing seems to be 
coexistent with humanity. That is, wherever there 
is a human being this longing is found as a part 
of that Being's mental nature, if it has not been 
crushed out by constantly rejecting the work of 
the Holy Spirit in the heart, by disregarding the 
Truth, and loving darkness rather than light. 

When we think of those people who lived over 
two thousand years ago — how they longed to know 
God in His true relation to mankind, we cannot 
help but experience a feeling of sympathy for 
them, because they could not know the true light 
of the world as we can know Him today. But at 



310 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the same time we must experience a feeling of joy 
on our own behalf, that we live in a time of so full 
audi complete a revelation of God in His relation 
to us. We adore the life in whom God revealed 
Himself so perfectly. 

We might turn our thoughts to the starry heav- 
ens, where myriads upon myriads of worlds are 
revolving in obedience to the laws of tiheir Creator, 
or direct our thoughts upon the firm set earth be- 
neath our feet, where strata of rock upon strata 
is laid, or look upon all nature around us, while 
all these manifest His thought and show forth His 
thoughts and wisdom, the wisdom of their Creator ; 
yet in all these can we know God in His true rela- 
tion to man? Can we apart from Godfs revelation 
of Himself in Christ have the assurance that He 
who is the source of all these toiling worlds — can 
we, apart from His Self-revelation in Christ, have 
the assurance that He is "A Love that sympathizes 
with us and cares for us?" This revelation of God 
as Love and of His personal presence in the world, 
we need so greatly in facing the problemfe that 
press upon us in this present age ; that press upon 
us indeed harder than ever they pressed upon men 
before, because the social spirit has developed to a 
new degree and seeks a better state of things. 

Out of this age which has been plainly a great 
transition period! in the world's history, when the 
future has seemed rather indefinite as to what 
course shall be taken, do we not hear the cry of the 
human soul still, — "show us the Father and it 
sufficeth us?" But where shall we find Him who 



IN THE PEKCEPTION OF TRUTH 311 

"yet is everywhere?" Where shall we find Him in 
His personal presence that we may know Him as 
Hie is? Apart from His revelation of Himself in 
Ohrist we cannot get an answer that will satisfy 
the longing of the soul. In Christ God has given 
a complete answer that can stand the test of time. 
It has met the needs of "them of old time/' and 
it still meets our own deepest needls in these mod- 
ern times. In Ohrist, looked upon as the reve- 
lation of God in Human form, we see God with 
us in our human nature and life. In him we 
see God living His Divine life, not apart from the 
world but entering personally into it and plainly 
revealed as Love. In Him we see the possibili- 
ties of a human life when lived in perfect unity 
with God. He was the expression of a life lived 
moment by moment under the inspiration of the 
Spirit of the Father, and was therefore the full ex- 
pression of the Life of God in man; the com- 
plete expression of a Love higher than anything 
earthly and yet entirely human. Higher than this 
complete self consecration to God man can never 
go. "The Divine/' as the poet Goethe has said, 
"can never be miore Divine than that." We can say 
with the utmost truth, that if we don't see God 
there we will not see Him anywhere. When we see 
that human life made one with the Divine Spirit, 
and raised above all limitations, transcending the 
seen and temporal, as a Divine-human life, rising 
entirely into the eternal and divine, and sending 
forth a powerful influence, and unlimited radiance; 
as a personal spirit of true life to men, — when we 



312 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

see Him thus we have reached the final and con- 
vincing proof that we finds in Him not merely man 
but God. For what truer thought of God can we 
have than to think of Him as the Universal Spirit 
of Life. We have in Christ, as the manifestation 
of God in His relation to human beings, that know- 
ledge of Himself we need so much, and the reve- 
lation of His personal presence with us. In Christ 
Hie enters our life as an abiding, personal presence, 
the Spirit of Truth, Bighteousness and Love; living 
in us, making us true Sons and daughters of God 
the Father. 

And the power of a new affection ! what does it 
mean to each one? The beginning of a friendship, 
Which is the "crown and consummation of a virtu- 
ous life? And "The recognition and respect of in- 
dividuality in others by persons who are highly 
individualized themselves ?" 

Aristotle once said, "True friendship is possible 
only between the good ;" between people who are in 
earnest about Ideals that are large and generous 
and public-spirited enough to be sfhared and en- 
joyed by others. 

Conventional people are all alike ; but the people 
who have cherished ideals of their own, and make 
all their choices with reference to these inwardly 
cherished ends, becortfe highly differentiated. The 
m*ore individual your life becomes the fewer the 
people who can understand! you. The man who 
has Ideals of his own, divinely given, is sure to be 
unintelligible to the man who has no such Ideals, 
and is just drifting with the crowd. Conventional- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OP TRUTH 313 

isni is a good servant, but a hard and cruel master. 
Slaves of custom and established mode, like pack- 
horses, keep the road, through quags or thorny 
dells, true to the jingling of their leader's bell. 
And 

"No life can be pure in its purpose or strong in its 
strife 
And all life not be purer and stronger thereby." 

Some one has well said: "Society is like a large 
piece of frozen water ; and skating well is the great 
art of social life." 

Shun vice andi strive after virtue, for this is the 
way we shall live at peace with Self and with the 
world; this is the way we shall have friendly feel- 
ings toward ourselves and be the friends of others. 
Some desire the company of others but avoid their 
own. And because they avoid their own company, 
having nothing lovable about them, "there is no 
real basis for union of aims and interests with 
their fellows." "A good man stands in the same 
relation to his friend as to himself, seeing that his 
friend is a second self." 

I quote Dr. William DeWitt Hyde, who says: 
"Friendship is the bringing together of those in- 
tensely individual, highly differentiated persons 
on a basis of mutual sympathy and common under- 
standing," and "has as many planes as human life 
and hum|an associations. The men with whom We 
play golf and tennis, (and in the sport of some per- 
haps) billiards and whist — are friends on the low- 



314 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

est plane — that of common pleasures. Our pro- 
fessional and business associates are friends on a 
little higher plane — that of the interests we share. 
The men who have the same customs and intellec- 
tual tastes; the men with whom we read our fa- 
vorite authors, and talk over our favorite topics, 
are friends upon a still higher plane — that of iden- 
tity of aesthetic and intellectual pursuits. The 
highest plane, the best friends, are those with whom 
we consciously share the spiritual purpose of our 
lives. This highest friendship is as precious as 
it is rare. With such friends we dirop at once 
into a matter of course intimacy and communion. 
Nothing is held back, nothing is concealed; our 
aims are expressed with the assurance of sym- 
pathy; even our shortcomings are confessed with 
the certainty that they will be forgiven. Such 
friendship lasts as long as the virtue which is its 
common bond. Jealousy cannot come in to break 
it up. Absolute sincerity, Absolute loyalty — these 
are the high termis on which such friendship must 
be held. A person may have many such friends 
on one condition : that he shall not talk to any one 
friend about what his friendship permits him to 
know of another friend. Each such relation must 
be complete within itself; and hermetically sealed, 
so far as permitting any one else to come inside 
the sacred circle of its mutual confidence. In such 
friendship, differences, as of age, sex, station in 
life, divide not, but rather enhance the sweetness 
and tenderness of the relationship. In Aristotle's 
words: 'The friendship of the good, and of those 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 315 

who have the same virtues, is perfect friendship. 
Such friendship, therefore, endiures so long as each 
retains his character, and virtue is a lasting 
thing.' " 

Christianity has been defined, not as "a philoso- 
phy but a religion; not a doctrine but a life; not 
the performance of a task but the maintenance of 
certain personal relationships; in a word, it is the 
Spirit of Love." 

But how may we know when we have this Spirit 
of the Father ? One thing is sure : Wherever it 
is, it will manifest itself in the life and conduct of 
the individual, as Truth, Righteousness and Love. 
It never speaks evil of another, for it is the power 
that makes' for righteousness, and seeks to do good 
toward fellow r beings. It is the eye of the mind 
through wilich we see and know r God. And all who 
will recognize the work of this Spirit within them 
and permit it to grow and be the ruling power in 
their lives, will find that it is the angel bringing 
into life the real pleasures, joys and the success 
that make life worth living. 

It makes no difference what your vocation is, 
only it must be a calling worthy of the great value 
placed upon life. The farmer, the merchant, the 
workman, the clerk, or the student — all have a 
part to perform in the great unity of society, taken 
as an entire organization ; and if the part of each 
is performed well by a life, living in harmony with 
the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of the Father, all 
are alike honorable. And the Spirit of Truth, 
Righteousness and Love, ruling thus each life in 



316 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

his or her relation to God and other Beings, will 
draw all into a closer union in which kind regards 
for one another prevail. And the whole unit of 
Society refined and strengthened by the strength 
and beauty of each individual life ruled thus by 
the true Spirit of Life, shall march on toward a 
fuller attainment of that life manifested! in Jesus, 
who is upheld as the model of a perfect human 
life, the union of perfect love with perfect strength 
of character. 

Whatever the truth may be in recent speculative 
thought, time will decide. It is interesting to no- 
tice, however, that things do point toward a bet- 
ter understanding of human nature and of the pos- 
sibilities of a life when perfectly united with God, 
and living in harmjony with His will and law. It 
has destroyed the foundation of many false and 
harmful superstitions concerning the power of evil 
in the world, and it has placed the knowledge and 
faith in the true religion on a stronger basis, up- 
holding it as the only rational means by which 
humanity can be delivered from the evil it has 
brought upon itself. And the most admirable 
thing of all is the fact that the Christ life in view 
of all the criticism that can be turned upon it, 
only shines forth all the brighter and plainer as 
the true revelation of God in man. When He came 
into the world men did not understand Him. He 
was too great to be understood, and they reviled 
and crucified Him. But that did not end all. His 
works endure. He lives and rules. His Kingdom 
is established within us. There He rules our 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 317 

thoughts and our motives, if we will only recognize 
Him as the Spirit of God the Father, the Spirit 
of Truth and! Love leading out of darkness into 
the light. There on the throne of our intellect Hie 
must reign until the lower nature in man is sub- 
dued or rather brought under the control of the 
higher. Tlhe fact that so many of the leading 
thinkers of the present do recognize the value of 
developing the nobler qualities and virtues in life, 
show^s that righteousness is prevailing; and espe- 
i cially in this present age is the movement in that 
I direction m|ore rapid than ever before. The turn- 
| ing of thought in this direction is very suggestive 
I of what the near future may be. To say the least, 
it cannot be otherwise than for the welfare of 
| humanity. 

In view of all this should we not show our grat- 

j itude toward the Author and Source of our reli- 

I gion, by letting that Spirit of life which made 

Jesus what he was, the perfect Son of God upheld 

as our Ideal, come into our own lives and abide 

there, bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit? 

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
temperance: against such there is no law." (Gal. 
5:22.) 

"The first fruit of the Ohrisitna Spirit in the 
personal life is love." Love is not a duty which 
the Christian sets before himself, or an ideal at 
which he aims, or a law he is completely compelled 
to obey. We, the Sons of God, live in the atmos- 
phere of the Father's Love, and it is the life of 



318 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

cur life. We walk in imaginative comradeship 
with Christ until Christ's love becomes our own; 
we associate with other Christians in works of 
helpfulness and mercy, in services of gratefulness 
and) praise, until we share their enthusiasm. It 
is the universal law of cause and effect, working 
here in the realm of personal relationship. If man 
could live in reverent comimjunion with the good- 
ness of the Father, and in sympathetic contact 
with the character of Christ ; "if he could have fel- 
lowship with other Christian people, and not be- 
come more just and kind and helpful to the people 
whom he meets in the daily intercourse of life, 
that/' says a clear thinker, "would be the one soli- 
tary case in all this universe in which the law of 
cause and effect failed to work." Love follows the 
maintenance of these spiritual relationships as 
surely as light and warmth follow the admission of 
sunshine to a room. 

And modesty, another characteristic of the 
Christian Spirit, like love, is the manifestation of 
something deeper and higher than itself. Every 
one living in the presence of the great Father, and 
walking in the company of His Son, finds modesty 
and humility the natural and spontaneous expres- 
sion of his side of these great relationships. 

Joy is another quality that cannot be directly 
cultivated! with entire success, in the way that 
pleasure seekers regard it. But the man who looks 
through sunshine and shower, food and raiment, 
family and friendship, society and the moral order 
of the world, up into the face of the giver of them 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 319 



all as his Fatther; they who know how to summon 
the gentle and gracious companionship of Christ, 
in the pressure of perplexity, or in the quiet of 
solitude; how to unlock the treasures of Christian 
literature, appropriate the meaning of Christian 
worship, and avail themselves of the comfort and 
support that is always latent in the hearts of his 
Christian friends — the man or woman, who has 
grown up into and developed these vast personal 
resources cannot long remain disconsolate. 

"Even in perplexity, popularity and outward 
success, it takes considerable mixture of these 
deeper elements to keep the tone o'f life constantly 
on the high level of joy." But the real test is ad- 
versity, when the man without these resources 
gives way, breaks down, becomes querulous, fret- 
ful, irritable. The person who can be hated for 
the good he tries to do, and condemned for bad 
things he never did or meant to do, the man who 
can work hard and contentedly, and can serve de- 
votedly people that revile and betray him in re- 
turn; who can discount in advance the misrepre- 
sentation, and defeat a right course may cost, and 
resolutely set things in order — taking persecution 
and treachery as serenely as other men take hon- 
ors — such a one you may be assured has dug deeply 
and invested heavily in the field where lies or is 
hidden the priceless Christian treasure. 

The next manifestation of the Christian Spirit 
! is peace and the price of peace. Not that the Chris- 
tian is unwilling or afraid to fight ; to fight "where 
deliberate wrong is arrayed against the rights of 



320 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

men; whore fraud is practiced on the unprotected; 
where hypocrisy imposes on the credulous; where 
vice betrays the innocent. But fighting God's bat- 
ties on principle is quite different from that of 
natural warfare. "To feel entirely tjranquil in 
the midst of the combat; to know that we are not 
alone on the side of right; to have the real inter- 
ests of our opponents at heart all the time; to 
be ever ready to forgive them, and ask their for- 
giveness for any excess of zeal we may have shown ; 
to have the peace of God in our hearts, and no 
trace of malice, in deed or word or thought or 
feeling''; this is to be with the Father and with 
Christ, and go out actively opposing everything 
(hat wrongs and injures the humblest mian, the 
lowliest woman, the most defenseless child. 

Probably no other adequate provision for main- 
taining peace in the midst of effective warfare, re- 
storing peace for others and making peace for our- 
selves when the need of Avar is over — probably no 
other attitude of the Individual Spirit has ever been 
planned or thought of for the restful poise of the 
mind or soul in the haven of delight, where man 
may enjoy (he Society of angels. The peacemak- 
ers of this fearless, earnest, strenuous type 'have 
the right to be called the children of God. 

Christian fidelity, the first and the last, like all 
the other qualities we have noticed, is the natural 
consequence of living and dwelling in the Chris- 
tian Spirit. It is the working in and. through us, 
the activity of (he Being of the world, the Eternal 
Logos, the Heavenly Father, whose Spirits we are, 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 321 

the Christ whom we receive, and the Spirit we 
share with our fellows in that divine order and 
relation of a heaven-born friendship. 

Love, joy, modesty, peace, fidelity and sacrifice 
are essential expressions of the Christian Spirit. 
Their presence is a sign of the Christ within; their 
absence is a gloomy signal that the connection be- 
tween the soul and God has probably become atro- 
phied, or cut asunder. 

Sacrifice is but the negative side of Christian 
fidelity in service. As in the life of the Master, 
so in the life of every faithful one, the cross is 
borne, the perpetual sacrifice is made — it is the 
price of love's presence in a world of selfishness 
and hate, until the end of the world's time. But 
the cross is transfigured, into a crown of rejoicing, 
the sacrifice changed into privilege and pleasure 
by the precious personal relationship®, the supreme 
glory and gladness of a living spirit, which could 
be miaintained on no cheaper terms. The sacrifice 
that the Christian makes to do his Father's will, 
his Master's mission, to be accomplished in the 
world that so sadly needs it — is the dearest and 
sweetest experience of life, probably "like the sac- 
rifice a mother makes for her sick and suffering 
child." The cross thus gladly borne, the yoke of 
sacrifice thus assumed, is the supreme expression 
of the Christian Spirit. Life in the present world 
consists in giving oneself in active devotion to 
some practical end. 

Is it too large a pledge for any one to take upon 
himself and say: I henceforth shall give myself 



322 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

in devoted activity for the healing of the nations, 
and in love to my closest and dearest friend, "A 
friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Nearer 
is he than breathing, closer than hands or feet. 

"Lovely was the death of Him whose life was 
love! Holy with power, He on the thought be- 
nighted skeptic beamed manifest Godhead." 

The mystic says: "All His glory and beauty 
come from within, and there He delights to dwell. 
His visits there are frequent, His conversation 
sweet, His comforts refreshing; and His peace 
passeth all understanding." 

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in 
God, believe also in me." 

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto 
you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you." 

"That the world may know that I love the 
Father ; and as the Father gave me commandment, 
even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." 



IV. 



THE QUALIFICATIONS OF SELF-POISE 
IN THE IDEAL. 

"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest." (Math. 11 : 28.) 

Our temporal form of experience is in a unique 
way the form of the will. The conception called 
space often seems to spread out the contents of 
our world of experience in one present span of 
consciousness, but the form for the experience or 
the expression of all our meanings is in time. Con- 
scious ideas assume the consciously temporal form 
of inner existence, and appear to us as construc- 
tive processes. The visible world viewed at rest, 
which is the favorite region of Realism, interests 
us little in comparison with the same world viewed 
with a poetic interpretation of its movements, 
changes, successions. What need we care whether 
a space world of so-called Realism exist or not, 
if we have learned to live in the Ideal, Eternal 
World with our Risen Lord? Christ invites to 
come unto Him for rest, "all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden " — that restful poise of the soul 
through eternal union of the Self with Christ in 
God, in the midst of a world of pure activity, the 
Real World of an Ideal Space. It is natural bo 
watch tihe moving and neglect the apparently 



324 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

changeless objects. And this is probably why nar- 
rative in the poetic arts is more easily effective 
than description. If you want to win the attention 
of the child or the general public, you must tell 
the story rather than analyze coexistent truths; 
must fill time with coexistent series of events 
rather than crowd the space of experience or of 
imagination with manifold undramiatic details. 
An Ideal Space furnishes, indeed, the stage and 
the scenery of the universe, but the world's play 
occurs in time. Time is the form of practical ac- 
tivity; and its character, especially the direction 
of its succession, is determined: by the dominant in- 
terests and attentions, according as you regard the 
invitation and come and enjoy that rest in the 
peace of God which passeth understanding. 

Some one has said, "In the universe at large only 
the present state of things is real, only the present 
movement of the stars, the present streamings of 
radiant light, the present deeds and thoughts of 
men are real; the whole past is dead; the whole 
future is not yet." Such a reporter of the tem- 
poral existence of the universe may be asked how 
long his real present of the time world is. If he 
thinks, " The present moment is the absolutely 
indivisible and ideal boundary between present 
and future," let him know that in a mathematically 
indivisible instant, no event happens or endures, 
no thought or deed takes place and nothing what- 
ever exists. The whole past is not dead, for that 
which cometh from the eternal into the eternal 
returneth; and the future, which is not yet is in 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 325 

the "spacious present of the inner life, the inner 
harmony of symmetry and beauty. For the real, 
true Self there is no last moment, A life seeking 
its goal through reflection and experience is essen- 
tially temporal, but it is just as music is temporal, 
except that music is temporally finite. What 
makes a beautiful musical composition? It is not 
a series of isolated sounds, but rather progression 
and the proportionate balance of chords, passing 
from phrase to phrase in the series of harmon- 
iously related movements. The literary artist cre- 
ates ideal characters in the drama, but his skill 
is judged by the excellence and variety of the ac- 
tors, and the harmony of action each contributes 
to a final result. 

Never limit the Absolute Reason or the scope 
of knowledge. But we don't need to claim that 
the Absolute suffers with fallen humanity, or ex- 
periences the anguishes and trouble caused by 
wrong and discord in the world. He is the Power, 
Personal, that sustains and causes harmony and 
unity, love and happiness in realized Ideals, and 
on through the activities in nature and life — by 
His omnipotent and loving Will, sovereign with 
dominion over all. He has called us to participate 
in His life, and enter into living union and fellow- 
ship with Him, and thus we are in His world and 
He in our world. The Society of the Redeemed 
and glorified is the World of the Absolute. 

"Like wind flies time 'tween birth and death; 
Therefore, as long as thou hast breath, 



326 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

Of care for two days bold thee free: 
The day that was and is to be." 

When we consider the time span of a century, 
we find ourselves yet in the glowing dawn of the 
new. But the gate of the centuries has already 
closed behind us, locking up many deeds with the 
treasures of history, written or unwritten. And 
we, like passengers on an ocean steamer, gliding 
out of a well known harbor over the blue waves 
beneath a clear sky, signaling a farewell to 
friends on the shore — are taking a voyage. We say 
good-bye to the past. It is sealed; and only he 
who hath power over the destinies of men and of 
nations can break the seal and change the influence 
or effect of a single thought, word or deed. Do 
we all know where we are going? It is not safe 
or smooth sailing on the voyage of life, unless we 
do. Have we prepared ourselves carefully and 
duly for that journey? Have we put on the garb 
of the saints, the white robe of Christian virtues 
and the divine graces of our Master, who knows 
the way? Save we discarded, all the old rubbish 
that sometimes gets into our lives and clings to 
us through intercourse with the world and sinful 
mien? EDaving done all, and made beautiful prepa- 
rations for entering upon (lie new life, let us seek 
(hat friendship with God, (hat Jesus represented 
in his life, and come to the great Master, who said 
Let the little children come unto mie; and he that 
coineth nnio mie 1 will in no wise cast out." 

Life is not a mere fact ; it is gaining or losing 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 327 

something ;." It is a movement, a tendency, a 
steady, ceaseless progress towards an unseen 
goal." Even if position and character seem to 
remain precisely the same, they are changing. The 
mere advance of time is a change. A bare field 
in January does not mean the same as it would in 
July. The times and seasons are different. The 
limitations that in the child are childlike and beau- 
tiful, in the man are childish and undesirable. But 
the childlike and youthful spirit abideth forever; 
and through all ages is the beginning of life 
eternal. 

Everything we do is a step in one direction or 
another. Even the failure to do something is in 
itself a deed. Everything is a movement forward 
or backward. To decline is to accept the other 
alternative, jufct as truly as the action of the mag- 
netic needle follows the attraction and, repulsion 
of the negative and positive poles. 

Are you nearer your destiny today than you 
were at the beginning of the year? Yes; you must 
be a little nearer to some one or other. You have 
never been still for a single moment, since your 
ship was first launched on the sea of life. The sea 
is too deep to find an anchorage until you come 
into the haven of rest. Each one is a voyager with 
a course to run, a haven to seek, a fortune to ex- 
perience; separate, distinct, individual. We feel 
that our friends are not strangers to us. We know 
why we "pursue them with a lover's look"; as if 
we could see a familiar face, and hear a well-be- 
loved voice hailing us across the waves. And then 



328 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

we realize that we also are en voyage. We do not 
stand as spectators on the shore, we are sailing. 
All the "reverential fear of the old sea," the peril, 
the mystery, the charm of the voyage, come home 
to our own experience. The question becomes 
pressing, urgent, as we enter into the depth of its 
meaning. "What is our desired haven in the ven- 
turesome voyage of life?" There is nothing that 
can have a closer, deeper interest, to which we need 
to find a clearer, truer answer. What is the ha- 
ven, the goal you desire to reach? And w!hat is 
the end of life toward which you are drifting or 
aiming? 

There are three ways of looking at this, but all 
are interwoven. We have a work to do, a mission 
to fulfill. We have a character to build, a develop- 
ment, a personal unfolding; for we hope and are 
going to be something. And we have an expe- 
rience, a destiny ; for something is going to become 
of us. 

How familiar are the words of Christ : "He that 
loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." "And 
whosoever will be great among you, let him be 
your servant." The most delightful word man 
can hear at the close of day, whispered in secret 
to his soul, is "Well done, good and faithful ser- 
vant!'' 

It is really the desired haven of all our activity 
to do some good in the world. If a cross lies in 
the way, take it up ; bear it and pass on into a bet- 
ter, brighter and happier life. 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 329 
"Life is divine when duty is a joy." 

We are on a path that leads upward, by sure 
and steady steps, as soon as we begin to look at 
our future selves with eyes of noble hope and clear 
purpose, and "see our figures climbing, with pa- 
tient, dauntless effort, towards the heights of true 
manhood. Visions like these are Joseph's dreams, 
stars for guidance, sheaves of promise. The mem- 
ory ' of them, if cherished, is a power of pure re- 
straint and generous inspiration. 

Exclaims the poet in his longing : "Oh for a new 
generation of day-dreamers, young men and maid- 
ens who shall behold visions, idealists who shall 
see themselves as the heroes of coming conflicts, 
the heroines of yet unwritten epics of triumphant 
compassion and stainless love. From their hearts 
shall spring the renaissance of faith and hope. The 
ancient charm of true romance shall flow forth 
again to glorify the world in the brightness of their 
ardent eyes — 

"The light that never was on land or sea, 
The consecration and the poet's dream." 

As we go out thus from the fair visions or gar- 
dens of a visionary youth into the wide, confused, 
turbulent field of life; bring with us the marching 
music of a high resolve. And striving to fulfill the 
fine prophecy of our best and highest aspirations — 
we will not ask whether life is worth living, but 
will make it so. Then will we transform the sor- 



330 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

did "struggle for existence" into a glorious effort 
to become that which we have admired and loved. 

Such a new generation is possible only through 
the regenerating power of the truth that "a mjan's 
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
he possesseth." We must recognize and learn the 
real realities, and hold them far above the "perish- 
ing trappings of existence which men call real." 

"The glory of our life below 
Comes not fromi what we do or what we know, 
But dwells forevermore in what we are." 

Says John Kuskin, "He only is advancing in life, 
whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, 
whose brain quicker, whose spirit is entering into 
living peace. And the men who have this life in 
them are the true lords or kings of the earth — they 
and they only." 

One of the leading characteristics of the present 
age is respect and reverence for personality. So 
great is the value placed on personality that noth- 
ing in ail the earth can sufficiently expiate the de- 
struction of one life. As the fraternal spirit is 
cherished among mankind and nations, and as the 
world is introduced to a higher stage in the great 
drama of ethical life — in that proportion will the 
barbarism of conflict be diminished. 

The principle of arbitration is one of those great 
principles that tend to elevate a society to an ideal 
standing. With all the strength of deep convic- 
tions, let not the civilized nations spend their ener- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 331 

gy in conflict with one another ; but let them agree 
in peace, by means of arbitration settling all dis- 
putes and difficulties, and as a unitary power en- 
deavor to place on a higher status all parts of the 
earth, yet laboring in darkness and perceiving not 
the true light of the world. 

Then shall the inurky war-clouds drift aside and 
be forgotten ; the sunshine of prosperity shall shine 
in the clear sky of international friendship. The 
desolations of war will cease. No longer will the 
cannon's reverberating thunder peal out the death- 
knell of so many gallant patriots! No miore will 
the air be rent by the wild shrieks of its wounded 
victims; nor will the green fields or the streets of 
the city run red with human blood ! No more will 
the hearts of friends be torn with anguish o'er the 
departure of loved ones to fill the martial ranks — 
except when ignorance and barbarism refuse to 
yield to reason. 

There is a marvelous example in the present pe- 
riod of the world's history — how a rude, uncivil, 
unchristian empire is left to fight it out with itself. 
No social organization destitute of a high sense 
of right and reason, can stand against the power 
given to a nation by enlightenment. Its state of 
rudeness and incivility is broken by contact with 
such a power, and transformed into a new and 
higher relation among the Christian nations by the 
renovations of its government, morals and religion. 
Just as certain is the result as is the dormant state 
of nature under the spell of w r inter aroused to new- 
ness of life by the power of the approaching sun. 



332 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

With the firm establishment of the principle of 
the peace among civilized nations, all humanity 
must submit to the overwhelming power of that 
element in the world where universal good-will is 
enthroned. The engines of war shall be laid at 
rest; and the white dove of peace shall forever 
hover over the stronghold of the. nations. Our seas 
shall be decked by vessels of commerce unre- 
strained. And Christian civilization shall sweep 
the earth and penetrate to the very heart of the 
darkest heathenism. Then will the glad reign of 
the Mighty King be established over the world and 
the battle flag be furled in the parliament of man. 

In times of doubt, sorrow and trouble seek the 
inner kingdom of peace, the love of God, the per- 
sonal relationship of Christ. When rest, peace, 
self-poise, are attained, we long to share this peace 
with our fellows, and that is a deep conviction and 
there is a desire for the greatest to be the servant 
of all. 

Loving, giving, serving — these are the true signs. 
This should be our attitude toward all God's crea- 
tures, and inasmuch as we give unto the least of 
these we give unto Christ. For there is a unity in 
the Ideal. In the real world all souls are one ; in 
a certain true sense they are in Christ and Christ is 
in them. 

In the real world, in the Kingdom of God, in the 
Ideal Kingdom of personal ends, in the Kingdom 
of. Souls — all are imonortal. But the Kingdom of 
God is not of this world, nor is it limited by things 
that are perishable. It is an eternal spiritual 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 333 

reality. It is the home of justice, where all shall 
receive compensation in accordance with the life 
we have lived, and the wrongs we have endured. 

The Kingdom is also for this world here and 
now. It is for the individual ; hither each may turn 
to find rest and poise and guidance. It is for hu- 
mianity; our peace and confidence are just means 
to a social end, and our guidance is for service. 
It is for equality of opportunity ; the full and har- 
monious development of all members of society. It 
is for justice, righteousness and love. And since 
it is individual and social, moral and spiritual, it 
extends beyond the present life of limitations to 
that larger domain, where our cups shall be full, be 
perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect; where 
the unequal shall be equalized, and justice be the 
universal law at last. 

Would you do your part toward the realization 
of that Kingdom, remember that the higher, indeed, 
the highest work any of us can do for the Father 
is a spiritual work. Be at heart a brother to hu- 
manity, whatever your position in life. Work 
where you are, for we are co-workers with God- 
Be true to the best you know. Believe in God, and 
have faith in humianity. Rememlber that the old 
absolutism is passing away to give place to the 
new, and is entrenching itself in the last stronghold 
— the fortress of commercialism. Rememlber that 
silently and without observation the forces of life 
are gathering on the side of Christ and the Society 
of the redeemed, who having subdiued all things 
through a meek and Christlike life, shall also reign 



334 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

with Himl. Have faith in the present age. "Con- 
demn not; love. Be faithful; trust. Remember 
that Christ came not to destroy but to fulfill." 

Hear his words when he said : "Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn 
of me; for I am 1 meek and lowly in heart: and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is 
easy and my burdien is light." 

"Peace be unto you." 

"And lo, I ami with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world." 

Your course is not traced, nor is your destiny 
irrevocably appointed, by any secret books of fate. 
There is only the Lamb's book of life, where new 
names are being written every day, as new hearts 
turn from darkness to the light. No ship that sails 
the sea is as free to enter port, as you are to seek 
the haven that your inmost soul desires. And never 
shall you be wrecked or lost, if your choice is right, 
if your desire is real, and you strive with God's 
help to reach the goal. For every soul that seeks to 
be useful in the service of Christ, to be holy like 
Christ, and to be in heaven in the eternal presence 
of Christ — it is written : "So he bringeth them into 
their desired haven." 

"Like unto ships far off at sea, 
Outward or homeward bound are we. 
Before, behind, and all around, 
Floats and swings the horizon's bound, 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 335 

Seems at its distant rim to rise 

And climb the crystal wall of the skies, 

And then again to turn and sink 

As if we could slide from its outer brink. 

Ah ! It is not the sea, 

It is not the sea that sinks and shelves, 

But ourselves 

That rock and rise 

With endless and uneasy motion, 

Now touching the very skies, 

Now sinking into the depths of ocean. 

Ah ! If our souls but poise and swing 

Like the compass in its brazen ring, 

Ever level and ever true 

To the toil and the task we have to do, 

We shall sail securely, and safely reach 

The fortunate Isles, on whose shining beach 

The sights we see, and the sounds we hear 

Will be those of joy and not of fear." 

With this poem Longfellow caps his conception 
of life with a delicate and delightful touch by the 
artistic design of his poetic imagination. 



V. 

THE NATURE OF PURE ACTIVITY. 

"Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory 
of Jehovah is risen upon thee." (Isa. 60 :1.) 

There is something particularly beautiful about 
the first snow of the season. It is like the herald 
of joyous times, and the emblem of Truth and 
purity. The Scribe and the Harper enter upon 
their season of great successes in the wealth of 
genius and; literary activities in art and the dram>a, 
while the fields are white already for the harvest, 
and nature is at peace and rest, waiting for the 
spring's awakening. It is typical of the transition 
to the realm of eternal snows, where all the cosmic 
energy is transformed into nothing less in the 
physical scale of Being than Light; when the Cen- 
turies have rolled by and time is miarked not by the 
succession of heat and cold; a world that m!ay be 
all too real to the wretched intruder, whose pres- 
ence invites the imposition of conditions that are 
not the most welcom|e to an ill-prepared conscious- 
ness. It is by the principle of Self-sacrifice that 
men rise to higher things and learn to live the Life 
of the Eternal. 

It was before the examination in the History 
of Philosophy preliminary to coming up for the 
Doctor of Philosophy degree, a young candidate 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 337 

had arrived early and was leisurely contemplating 
a wax figure of the convolutions of the human 
brain, when suddenly he was startled with the ap- 
pearance at the entrance of what seemed like Love 
borne in on the wings of an eagle, but it was only 
a vain show to entrap the unwary soul in the snare 
of defeat. There is a time in every life when an 
occasion and the opportunity is judged as having 
gone; then neglected once is neglected forever, yet 
victory may come in another direction. 

The ancient prophet gave a warning to the Spir- 
itual Consciousness, millenniums ago, and the mes- 
sage comes down to modern times with a fine spir- 
itual meaning: "Awake, awake, put on thy 
strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, 
O Jerusalem, the Holy City : for henceforth there 
shall no more come into thee the uneircumcised 
and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust: 
arise, sit on thy throne, O Jerusalem : loose thy- 
self from the bonds of thy neck, O captive daughter 
of Zion." 

Again, "How beautiful upon the mountains are 
the feet of him that bringeth good tidings of good, 
that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, 
Thy God: reigneth! The voice of thy watchmen! 
They lift up the voice, together they sing : for they 
shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah returneth to 
Zion." 

And one of the most beautiful types of a fare- 
well command, and salutation to those who will 
not receive the instruction of wisdom is the sweep- 
ing advice and assurance: "Depart ye, depart ye, 



338 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION . 

go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing : go 
ye out of the midst of her; cleanse yourselves, ye 
that bear the vessels of Jehovah. For ye shall not 
go out in haste, neither shall ye go by flight: for 
Jehovah will go before you; and the God of Israel 
will be your rearward." 

There are regrets every person has to face at 
times. If it is not in the lapse of moral character, 
it is in the gliding away from personal conscious- 
ness of the personal Ideal, leaving a void; not filled 
with the actualization; scarcely with a hope to 
cheer and mlake life tolerable, to say nothing of the 
bright and cheerful optimism that has given place 
to scorn, indignation, curses and wrath of Judg- 
ment. One may long for the return, if possible, 
of the mild, kindly, gentle, peaceful soul that was 
always happy in the Christian virtues, breathing 
a benediction and a blessing even for enemies and 
faithless friendships!. If Science and Religion can 
be represented by the feminine spirit, one might 
refer to them as two supposed lady friends as con- 
trasted with Philosophy and Divinity. In particu- 
lar they have marked these transformations or 
lapses of the personal consciousness of the indi- 
vidual and ethical sentiments in a spiritual view 
of life. One had in her power to make of Philoso- 
phy the happy and contented ministerial servant 
it was designed for; but years ago she made the 
fatal leap that has blithed a logical impulse, or 
blighted a happy life. And another agent of woman- 
kind completed the wreck. Then instead of a bene- 
diction and a blessing, there are curses, oaths, hate, 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 339 

wrath and indignation upon the breath. Would 
that Theology were able to return once more to 
that happy state of benediction and blessing, giv- 
ing love for hate and indifference. OptimSism does 
not longer seem so real as on that beautiful, sil- 
very, calm, peaceful moonlight night, while depart- 
ing from the presence of the select few r out under 
the starlight alone to seek Gethsemane. It was 
perhaps in the attitude of hope that there would 
come a time when forgiveness might be possible. 
But that time never came. Pride, self-conceit, or 
willfulness has eliminated or prevented the con- 
ditions of forgiveness, and the prayer in agony that 
the cup might pass from him could not be granted. 
Though optimism can or nuay not be real, it can 
at least be Ideal, and fire life with a divine wrath ; 
it is the wrath of Judgment, and then may be said 
of the offender and stumbling blocks — woe unto 
them by whom, offences come. 

When the world is a stage and life the actors, 
there is much truth in the "Ballade of the Dream- 
land Rose." 

Where the waves of burning cloud are rolled 

On the farther shore of the sunset sea, 
In a land of wonder that none behold, 

There blooms a rose on the Dreamland Tree. 

It grows in the garden of mystery 
Where the River of Slumber softly flows. 

And whenever a dream has come to be, 
A petal fails from the Dreamland Rose. 



340 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

In the heart of the tree on a branch of gold 

A silvery bird sings endlessly 
A mystic song that is ages old — 

A mournful song in a minor key, 

Full of the glamour of faery. 
And whenever a direamer's ears unclose 

To the sound of that distant melody, 
A petal falls from the Dreamland Rose. 

Dreams and visions in hosts untold 

Throng around on the moonlit lea; 
D ( reams of age that are calm and cold, 

Dreams of youth that are fair and free — 

Dark with a lone heart's agony, 
Bright with a hope that no one knows — 

And whenever a dream and a dream agree, 
A petal falls from the Dreamland Rose. 

L'envoi 
Princess — you gaze in a reverie 

Where the drowsy firelight redly glows. 
Slowly you raise your eyes to me 

A petal falls from the Dreamland Rose. 

There is a fancy in the love of lore that delights 
in somie vivid tale of exciting experience belong- 
ing to the past, but lingering in the present with 
vivid imiagery. There is a type of lore that can 
be shared by few, only by those for whom it has 
a great meaning; yet there is another type of re- 
mtembered experience that has a wide sympathy be- 
cause it may be less tragic but more human. From 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 341 

the Execution of Montrose, for instance, to a fasci- 
nating and witty story in Harper's Magazine is a 
great step, but there is something about the fact 
formations that can't wear the disguise of poetry 
or fiction. The imagination may transform the fact 
world until it is perceived in a finer and more sym- 
pathetic Ideal, but the irrational element that 
seems to constitute so much of the world's tragic 
events of history is lost; only that element of fact 
can be admitted to the Ideal Order of events and 
spiritual activities, that defines and fits Truth on 
account of its peculiar adaptation to personal ex- 
perience — past, present and logically suggestive 
of a planned future. Hence Truth is the realm 
of Moral purpose, and the world of historical fact 
is like a desert ; but it saves the new Creation from 
its spiritual enemjies, until the Christian Principle 
is strong enough to face them and dispatch them 
to their true destiny. And if their destiny is not 
true, it is true because it is false and they accept 
it as their own in a process of transformation. 
Then the one whio is left in the wilderness of fact, 
may yet delight in the assurance that the Ideals 
that have lighted the way to Truth in perception 
are joyfully received in the Realm of Ideal Truth. 
Yet to the one w r ho is left they may appear like a 
mirror reflecting the passions of a historical type 
of the empirical world. The historical type per- 
haps speaks in the language of the poet: 

"The little lives! They were mine when they were 
weak. 



342 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

Stirring beneath my heart that gave them 

cover — 
But ye tore t'hem all from my arms, now my head 

is bleak 
And my bosom shrinks in the snow. Go to your 

lover ! 

"Is she young, this bride of your age? Is she strong 
and fair 
To cherish you as the Shunamite? Yet after, 
Her heart is wild and her blood is hot; have care 
Lest her new-found smiile but turn to a harlot's 
laughter !" 

What one thinks, however, is not always the opin- 
ion of another person. Science and invention may 
transform a wilderness or change it into a gar- 
den; art may beautify the realm of ideas. But a 
cast-steel judgment as well as a "Oastell," may r^ 
quire a balance in the hand to weigh in even meas- 
ure the fruits of Truth. 

What is true is true ; what is false is false. The 
false is not, but the true is True; is Real, is Ideal; 
is Love, is fame; is Glory and renown. 

The Nature of Pure Activity is none other than 
the Glorified Christ in the prophetic history and! 
visions that adorn the religious consciousness of 
the Race of mankind, and restore the full spiritual 
consciousness of the Divine Life of Perfect Ethical 
relationships. This must determine any consider- 
ation of the nature and character of Pure Activity. 
Cthrist had himtself predicted, and his followers gen- 



IN THE PEKCEPTION OF TRUTH 343 

erally believed, that after "His ascension He was 
again visiting His people through. His Spirit." As 
Hort has said, "He supplied; in Himself the fixed 
plan, according to which all right human action 
must be framed: the Spirit working with their 
spirit supplied the ever varying shapes in which 
the plan had to be embodied." 

There is a mine for silver and a place for gold; 
iron is taken from the earth, and copper is mlolten. 
Man sets an end to darkness and searches out to 
the farthest limits. When he gets too far from the 
habitations of man he may swing to and fro like a 
pendulum; and. his works shall be tried and he 
himself saved as by fire. He may search for wis- 
dom and the place of understanding where no fal- 
chion's eye hath seen; he may put forth his hand 
upon the flinty rock and overturn the mountains; 
cut channels among the rocks, and see every prec- 
ious thing; or bring to light what is hid and bind 
the streams that they trickle not ; yet he may know 
not the price of Wisdom or get understanding. 
God is the author and finisher of every work, and 
knows them all. And the beginning of wisdom is 
the fear of the Lord; to depart from evil is under- 
standing. 

"Doth not wisdom cry, 
And understanding put forth her voice? 
On the top of high places by the way, 
Where the paths meet, she standeth; 
Beside the gates at the entry of the city, 
At the coming in at the doors, she crieth aloud : 



344 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

Unto you, O men, I call; 

And my voice is to the sons of men. 

I wisdom have made prudence my dwelling, 

And find out knowledge and discretion. 

The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil : 

Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, 

And the perverse mouth, do I hate. 

Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge : 

I am understanding: I have might. 

By me kings reign, 

And princes decree justice. 

By me princes rule, 

And nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 

Jehovah possessed mie in the beginning of his way, 
Before his works of old. 

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, 
Before the earth was. 

When he established; the heavens, I was there : 
When he set a circle upon the face of the deep, 
When he made firm the skies above, 
When the fountains of the deep became strong, 
When he gave to the sea its bound, 
That the waters should not transgress his com- 
mandment, 
When he marked out the foundations of the earth ; 
Then I was by him, as a master workman ; 
And I was daily his delight, 
Rejoicing always before him. 
Rejoicing in his habitable earth; 
And my delight was with the sons of men." 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 345 

A beautiful description of Creation, and the re- 
lation of Wisdom to Creation ! 

"Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get 
wisdom ;" 

Great is the value of wisdom for the individual, 
seeking mind and spirit. 

"She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; 
A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee." 

What more beautiful tribute is there to Sacred 
Love than the Song of Flowers, by the one who 
described himself as "A rose of Sharon" and "A 
lily of the valley." Far off in the distant future, 
the ancient prophet perceived that "Unto us a child 
is born, unto us a son is given; and the govern- 
ment shall be upon his shoulder; and his name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Then "The 
wilderness and the dry land shall be glad ; and the 
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It 
shall blossom abundantly, and; rejoice even with 
joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be' 
given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon : 
they shall see the glory of Jehovali, the excellency 
of our God." He declared : "The Spirit of the Lord 
Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed 
me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath 
sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim 
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 



34G LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the 
year ox Jehovah's favor, and the dlay of vengeance 
of our God ; to comfort all that mourn ; to appoint 
unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto themi 
a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, 
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; 
that they may be called trees of righteousness, the 
planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified." 
Ajnd then follows the exultation and the consola- 
tion of the True Church: "I will greatly rejoice 
in Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in mjy God; 
for he hath clothed me with garments of salvation, 
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, 
as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, 
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels- 
For as the earth bringeth forth its bud, and as 
the garden cause th the things that are sown in it 
to spring forth; so the Lord Jehovah will cause 
righteousness and praise to spring forth before 
all the nations." 

"Therefore thus saith Jehovah, if thou return, 
then will I bring thee again, that thou mayest stand 
before me ; and if thou take forth the precious from 
the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth ; they shall re- 
turn unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto 
themi And I will make thee unto this people a 
fortified brazen wall; and they shall fight against 
thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for 
I am with thee to save thee and to dleliver thee, 
saith Jehovah. And I will deliver thee out of the 
hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of 
the hand of the terrible." 



IX THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 347 

Inasmuch as Christ came once on a mission of 
salvation, he is coming again. And inasmuch as 
salvation is free for all under the redemptive 
scheme of a supreme self-sacrifice, and his enemies 
have an apparent victory because of his dying love ; 
yet he cannot long delay, neither can he withhold 
his wrath forever. He is coming in Judgment; 
4 "and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, 
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that 
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb : for the great day of their wrath is come ; 
and who is able to stand?" 

He that hath an ear to hear, and an eye to see, 
let him hear and see. "Nevertheless that which ye 
have hold fast till I come. And he that overconi- 
eth, and keepetk my works unto the end, to him 
will I give authority over the nations : and he shall 
rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the 
potter are broken in shivers; as I also have re- 
ceived of my Father, and I will give him th^ morn- 
ing star. He that hath an ear let him hear what 
the Spirit saith to the churches." 

"As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be 
zealous therefore; and repent," And "He that over- 
cometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in 
my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with 
my Father in his throne." There was a book writ- 
ten and sealed with seven seals. And an angel 
proclaimed with a great voice, Who is worthy to 
open the book and loose the seals thereof? And 
when no one in heaven or earth was able either 
to open or to look thereon, one of the elders said, 



348 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

"Weep not; behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of 
Juctah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open 
the book and the seven seals thereof." And "in 
the midst of the throne was a Lamib standing as 
though it had been slain/' having the symbols of 
the seven Spirits of God, which are sent forth into 
all the earth. "And when he had taken the book, 
the fonr and twenty elders fell down before the 
Lamb, having each a harp, and golden bowls full 
of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 
And they sing a new song." And there are count- 
less multitudes saying with a great voice : "Worthy 
is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing." Every creature 
worshiped and praised God. 

And there was "another strong angel comiing 
down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud ; and the 
rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the 
sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; and he had in 
his hand a little book open : and he set his right 
foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth." 
And the seer was to be a witness and "prophesy 
again over many peoples and nations and tongues 
and kings." 

"If any man is for captivity, into captivity he 
goeth : if any man shall kill with the sword, with 
the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience 
of the saints." 

And another angel was seen "flying in mid- 
heaven, having eternal good tidings to proclaim 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 349 

unto them that dwell on the earth, and unto every 
nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he 
said with a great voice, Fear God, and give him 
glory; for the hour of his judgment is come: and 
worship him that made the heaven and the sea and 
fountains of waters." 



VI. 

THE NATURE OF PUEE ACTIVITY 
(Continued). 

Out of the throne proceeds a river clear as crys- 
tal ; and the leaves of the trees on either side thereof 
are for the healing of the nations. 

There is a stream of thought from the pure, deep 
springs of Ethical Truth; and the spiritual in- 
fluence that one person exerts over another con- 
stitutes a field of ethics that is vastly more signi- 
ficant than any other aspect of moral responsibility 
and conduct. The negative personality always has 
a distressing effect on the more positive, idealistic, 
optimistic type of high thinking mental activity. 
Herein is the high value of metaphysical knowledge 
in ideal construction in conformity with truth and 
Absolute consciousness of experience in and 
through the personal life of Reality. It is the 
high duty of man to respect the freedom of others 
and to communicate through the relationships of 
Absolute Knowledge. 

A distinguished student of Logic in a high degree 
whose temples were adorned with white locks, was 
questioned on a point of the mystical activity of 
the mind in such phenomena that some have tried 
to explain by clairvoyance and the like. He simply 
claimed that the human mind has a natural affinity 
for truth. To represent this he told a story of his 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 351 

experience. Once while going down from Boston 
he had a valuable watch in his care to be presented 
to the governor. It w r as worth about $350, and 
when he was traveling, he accidentally on waking 
up left it and his overcoat on board a Fall River 
boat. He discovered his loss soon after and imme- 
diately began a search. By talking a little with all 
those who might be implicated in its disappearance, 
he still had not the least idea who might have it. 
Then he made a turn and had. a clear idea of the 
one. He went directly to him and offered him $50 
to produce the hidden articles. The fellow denied' 
having them. Then arrangements were made with 
all the pawn brokers in New York and Boston to 
take note of the watch when it was pawned. Soon 
afterward Peirce received a notice from a broker 
on Broadway that his watch was on hand, this 
was not mentioned, but he was told to call. He 
then filled out a document and. the lawyer opened 
a drawer and there was his watch. Peirce paid 
the $150 which he had offered as an award and 
secured his lost treasure ; and then he had. the chain 
and his spring overcoat yet to get. He proceeded 
in like manner by a kind of mystical insight, and he 
found them all in spite of the opposition and the 
efforts made to resist his search. He found the 
chain in the bottom of a trunk and the overcoat 
on top of a piano in different flats. He offered 
as an explanation to a distinguished psychologist 
and a few others, that the human mind has a nat- 
ural affinity for fact, and that all ideas are alike 
simple when they are understood. Then he brought 



352 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

the discussion to a close with a grand and sweeping 
statement: " There are more things in Heaven and 
Earth than Philosophy has dreamed of, you can 
bet your neck on that." The statement was ad- 
dressed to the psychological method and of course 
was typical. 

In a thesis I once defined intuition as a very 
rapid logical process that the ordinary human mind 
does not perceive as such. I claimed that imagina- 
tion comes in at this point and holds the picture 
or conception of the mind in a symphony of co-or- 
dinated logical ideas in one unity of experience, 
and by some means that is called mystical the mind 
has a perception of the picture or conception when 
it is clear enough as a logical harmony of conscious 
ideas. The duty of mlan is to get into the habit 
of thinking and conceiving perfectly beautiful 
thoughts and conceptions, and in so doing he shows 
his skill as an artist of the highest type, because 
in the practical life of this kind of experience, per- 
ception and creative activity is not hindered or 
limited by brush, paint and canvas. It is the sig- 
nificant application of the truth of the Christian 
admonition : "Ye ought to esteem others better than 
yourselves." By the skillful application of this 
law, society would be exalted to a higher tone of 
excellence and happy relationships. The poetess 
sings : 

"There came to me one midnight hour 

Three words endued with wondrous power ; 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 353 

They flashed athwart my darkened sight, 
Like shafts of pure, Celestial light, 
And turned the night to day complete ; 
Three simple words, but oh! how sweet — 
Love faileth never! 

"Aye, suns may rise but suns will set; 
The dearest earthly ones forget; 
The bravest heart may change or fall, 
But love, God-love, endures through all — 
All times; all states; 'twill never cease, 
O words enfraught with heavenly peace — 
Love faileth never!" 

Should any one ask, what is a simple idea? I 
would say that a thought concept, for instance, is 
a simple idea; because it is there and a real per- 
ceivable thing. And should any one tempt me by 
asking what is the significance and the meaning 
of the Bible as related to life and experience? I 
should maintain that it was inspired truth for 
the people to whom it was given, and that its mean- 
ing for us is to be interpreted in that light and 
estimated rather as a help and counsellor in our 
own spiritual perceptions and experiences in 
thought and active relations with the world. It 
is safer than drawing inter-related curves and cir- 
cles in the Social Consciousness, though they may 
be executed with a remarkable degree of smoothness 
and uniformity. It is the only safe guide in walk- 
ing over high, precipitous, dangerous paths, and 



354 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

makes the Individual feel secure and safe with 
strong, high and fine determination. 

Aristotle's philosophy is typical of natural 
theory that seems to be a correct statement of 
some facts in the phenomenal world. He seemed 
to recognize a teleological world, but did not clearly 
perceive its value in the life of the universal con- 
sciousness, and is therefore content with his nat- 
ural and physical world of parallelism and inter- 
action in motion that is known to depend on the 
teleological. He seemed to know little about the 
nature of the teleological and Ideal world, and his 
universe of motion continually resolved itself into 
itself; and he could not get quite clear of the no- 
tion of discord and cessation that might be elimi- 
nated by the conception of Pure Activity, which 
should mjaintain in a right relation between the 
world! of miotion and the teleological, by a right 
attitude with the teleological that constitutes a 
world free in itself. In the Aristotelian system, 
if faith in the dynamic Ideal is gone, there is no 
hope for his world of motion, commercial and me-' 
chanical relations. 

A living active faith in the Ideal world is nat- 
ural with the Christian Type of Experience. 
Though hostile foes may almost destroy the life 
in one before they allow of being dispensed with; 
nevertheless there is always this to be thankful 
for now that the Individual is free from their nega- 
tive influence, and still alive with a natural divine 
and: fondly cultured faith that has become an ac- 
tuality in knowledge — Freedom and the presence 






IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 355 

of Absolute Knowledge in the Ideal Life of Self- 
consciousness, Self-conscious Spirit, through the 
saving power of the Son of God in the personality 
of Divine Love and Wisdom, and the consequent 
transformations of personalities in the awakened 
personal consciousness, and identity of rational 
co-consciousness. 

We judge all things in the light of the Ohrist 
life, and have our being in the Trinity of relation- 
ships. As the Self-conscious Spirit of Truth we 
live in a world of perception and; creative activity, 
and recognize the Second Person of the Trinity 
manifested in other persons. Not even the Son of 
God could assert himself, but each may recognize 
the Christ in others and all may recognize the 
Christ in the Individual. Though they live the life 
of angels, it does not exclude the marriage relation 
in the present world. The true marriage relation 
m!ay represent Christ and the Bride in the Individ- 
ual life, as the relation of Christ and the true 
Church in the Universal Ideal. In a fine, high, 
cultured, pious, community of Spirits, perhaps, 
spiritual influences gather and center in proximate 
unities from all parts of the world and prepare for 
battle. Then it must be the chief practical con- 
cern for the agents of the Universal Order, har- 
mony and symmetry of life to be prepared to meet 
the foe with invincible weapons. With eternal vig- 
ilance we must wage a spiritual warfare, and love 
like angels with the Spirit of Truth in the King- 
dom of Heaven. 

In dealing with the Social Consciousness, it may 



356 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

be found most essentially important, indeed, a vital 
principle to keep aloof from the current of weak- 
ness and crime that seems to flow through dis- 
eased thought; this is perhaps accomplished by 
some determinative power of Self-consciousness. 
It is a common thing to judge character, but some- 
thing more is needed; be able to discern tlie 
thoughts and intents of the heart and motives of 
character, and judge them by an Absolute stand- 
ard of perfection, which must be known and; rec- 
ognized as one's personal identity. Weak senti- 
ment is not only distressing but inefficient. Our 
love must be strong and pervasive, not to sanction 
or court petty conventionalities that are signs of 
weakness, that pass for coin in the minds of fools 
and in the unconverted church. Let the church 
awake to the life of the Spirit, the strong, tru© 
love of Christ ; and enter its mission of service and 
healing that is ever present with the power of the 
Spirit of Jesus in steadfast, intense devotion and 
love of Wisdom. 

The reality of the past, I think, is in the Per- 
manence of the Present. It is probably a mistake 
to think of the past returning after a lapse of time. 
Some one may awake to the consciousness of a 
present reality that appeared in the past, and ii 
may seem like a return. This is likely to occur 
as the realization in a conscious life, of an object 
of continued worship. Know the miodern spirit 
of a civilization and it is not hard to see what is 
going to be actualized. Some one has said, "To 
see an object means to assimilate it, to make it our 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 357 

own." We perceive the idea-types of things in 
God, and He is to the soul what light is to the 
eye. When we think on high themes and dwell in 
love our perceptions are highly complex, and our 
world must be a construction of Ideal Experience. 
Its logical clearness depends on truthfulness of 
Ideal character, and genuineness of thought and 
feeling. 

In Greek mythology the idealized lover and be- 
loved met with piercing eyes of black and eyes of 
blue; with a look strong, true and sincere, words 
are helpless things. But from the Greek another 
person like an agent of the under world, broke the 
tie and took the beloved from the exalted vision 
of Truth and! Love. Earth has one destroyer, death. 
And though the hero determined that Paradise 
shall be regained, and the innocent soul restored; 
to see is not always to assimilate, but to judge and 
thereby select and eliminate. Claim the true and 
reject the false. 

In personal life the pure in heart who see God 
become like Him, and Absolute Knowledge with 
Truth alone has power to bind and loose. Love 
is the Idea or Ideal around which all Christian 
thought and conceptions center; and the feminine 
spirit is like a woman clothed with the sun, when 
the power of love, thought and perception is clearly 
understood. A voice from! the great heart of ethi- 
cal thought and feeling, is like the wings of an 
eagle to the love that is persecuted, and saves the 
restless spirit from that old conception of a Self 
that is bent on dragging God into it. A modern 



358 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

philosopher once declared, "Keason Pure and sim- 
ple would make me free as an angel and inevitably 
holy." And another talked much of the insepara- 
ble relation between ethics and religion, of the 
union of science and religion, and that philosophy 
must perform' the ceremony on up to pronouncing 
the benediction. 

Looking into the springs of thought and ethical 
truth, is like the nymph looking into the clear deep 
spring. To see the Self is ever after to be rest- 
less till there is a union with the Self that is known. 
Even if it must be through the desert and wilder- 
ness of thought, the prayer of the Individual goes 
forth — "May her love quench the thirsting soul and 
longings till I find her and she claims me as her 
own." When it shall come to pass, that union will 
be the consummation of a complete character; the 
fulfilment of a life ideal, taught and suggested by 
experience and prophetic insight. It is an exam- 
ple or instance how a high and fine emjotion can 
exclude thoughts that have nothing in common 
with a present state of consciousness — or as the 
poet has declared and described as lying too deeg 
for tears; like Love borne on the wings of a great 
eagle to one in a desert and wilderness of much 
thinking that has been cut prematurely and dried 
in the withering fire of a philosophical criticism. 

One evening in a Seminary organized for the 
study of Christian Ethics and Modern Life, there 
had been some remarkable manifestations of spir- 
itual power acting through different individuals 
in a logical and coherent expression of the Chris- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 359 

tian Spirit. It was an occasion with a reason for 
thanksgiving to the Great Author, Creator, and 
Finisher of so rich a variety of experience that 
had clearly been summed up in such a richness of 
meaning in personal life. It was so vast and rich 
and full of transcendental and spiritual truth in 
its practical relations of ethical value, that one 
could not begin to describe it. This grand and 
royal experience of thought, wisdom, love and clear, 
quick discernment — that has had so rich a mean- 
ing in the recognition of Ideal Experience, person- 
ally, as the presence of self-conscious spirits and 
angels — in every great event of spiritual signifi- 
cance has been the inspiration of life work when 
permanently united with that one, who is so dear 
and highly beloved in pure devotion, confiding trust 
and consecrated love. God forbid that any harm 
could come to that Love, either human or Divine, 
which is the Idea or Ideal around which all think-* 
ing and conceptions center, and is the Life of life. 
Many a troubled spirit has recognized the con£ 
ing of a sister of mercy at a critical moment or 
critical moments in life. If one aware of short- 
comings through ethical and social implications, 
should remark: "I feel that I ought to apologize; I 
did not know that I came on the program this even- 
ing" ; then sympathetically continue with a glow 
of love and tenderness and attitude of penitence, 
calling forth a feeling attitude of entire forgive- 
ness and powerful sentiment: "I fear that I have 
injured his cause by paying so much attention; to 
the feebleminded." What must be the attitude and 



360 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

holy joy with Christ and the holy angels when the 
true church comes to Him with such a confession 
of devotion? 

"Perfect Love casteth out fear." 

A good statement of a fundamental principle and. 
relation of principles in actual life, that has his- 
torical significance, has been made by a^young Eng- 
lish Philosopher : "Experience will be best realized, 
if there are to be different forms of its expression, 
when that unity is most explicit, when the subject 
and object are explicitly aspects of the same con- 
scious unity. For then the subject will consciously 
be identical with its object, its object will be its 
very self. In this case, the object is self and aware 
of the subject, subject is self and aware of object; 
or subject and object are each self-conscious. But 
this is only possible when the object is the self of 
the subject which has experience, and where thi§ 
self - consciousness is absolutely all - inclusive. It 
will be found in absolute self-consciousness, in that 
form of experience which we call the life of Abso- 
lute Mind." 

It has been noted that similarity and difference 
are often represented by two beings or existences 
linked together by casual relations. There is al- 
ways a cloud of inexplicable something in common 
that God alone can know and clearly see through. 
This has reference to Ideas as well as objective 
Beings or manifestations of Ideas. All things have 
their true Being in the Divine Will. In Him is 
clear perception audi omniscience. Time relations 
are represented in the same way. There is no ab- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 361 

solute division between the conscious flow of ideas. 
They blend at some point or other, and there is al- 
ways a link that is described by some as a cloud or 
nebula of fire. This has been referred to in an- 
other connection as the Divine Love. It is like 
the seventh stage of a lamp or candle that has been 
kept constantly -burning, and has been seen by a 
perceiving subject only in its sixth and eighth 
stages. What it was in the seventh degree is known 
only by belief and a mental process of judging and 
thinking. It has also been claimed that the think- 
able and the possible is the eternal. 

Does not something make you feel that you have 
always lived at heart in this state of the eternal? 
Does not the soul cry out for this light of the inner 
life? If this has slipped away from the range of 
vision, does not the mind soliloquize : "Shall I ever 
find it again? I have given myself for the sake of 
love; shall that love ever be returned; and shall 
I find it again in another life? Would that I may 
find it in the life for whom I gave it, and whom I 
have trusted as a faithful and abiding friend — be- 
cause we have the same spiritual Ideals." 

I question the validity of the belief of some who 
rest in the stupid confidence of their own worth 
and psychic power to control the higher spiritual 
influences through mechanical means of their own 
devising. The attempt to disturb through an irra- 
tional scheme instead of submitting to the presence 
and influence of a self-conscious rational mind or 
co-ordinated spiritual life, cannot be justified or 
approved by any reason or in the light of any 



362 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

moral idea or sound ethical purpose. We then 
who are spiritual are free, and we will bear each 
other's burden because we have the same spiritual 
Ideals actualized in our life. Our sympathy is 
with the self-sacrificing disposition, a broken and 
a contrite heart. They may come with a broken 
spirit and a receptive heart to be made holy by 
the Love of Godl and the power of the Christian 
Spirit. They dare not impute the consequence of 
sin on the pure in heart, but they must go in faith 
to him who has made atonement for sin once for 
all, even Jesus Christ. And our life shall be per- 
fect in the Love and Wisdom of God and the Son, 
blessed and happy forever more; and holy with 
power in the light of a divine radiance that no sin 
can endure. May our cup of joy be full and over- 
flowing, when our practical Ideals are realized. 

What evil is or may be, it is something that 
comes from beneath and can have no place in the 
world of a heavenly life. It is probably the in- 
fluence of wicked, restless spirits or psychoses that 
have no world and cannot enter the life and realm 
of true Being. Our life and personality is from 
above, and the spirits of darkness can have no 
part with us; let them destroy their own phantom 
or illusion of sin and iniquity, whether it has a 
cause or not, and thus accomplish and fulfill the 
will of the heaven-born life and manifestation of 
personality, through the Spirit of Truth in the 
Son, the faithful and; true witness of the things 
of God. 

When true womanhood knows herself as one 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 363 

with the Absolute, and because pregnant with the 
Whole spirit of Love and Truth, and is possessed 
unto the new birth and the fullness of Life, the 
virgin spirit remains with her throughout eternity. 
"Having brought forth this conception expressed 
in physical birth — the Son of God — no lesser crea- 
tion can be denied Woman. " A crystallized thought 
of the best that is known in Absolute Knowledge, 
becomes the spiritual Self — the Word made mani- 
fest. "Health, harmony, strength and happiness, 
crystallized through Divine Thought, are immacu- 
lately conceived children." 

"Dealing symbolically with the mystery of the 
birth of the C'hrist, the soul may be likened to the 
immaculate Virgin — the Spirit of the just and 
truth-ful man." The Divine engrafted in every soul 
begins its cry for expression and continues until 
full consciousness of the spiritual birth is attained. 
The Christ in every soul must be realized sooner 
or later with the incarnation of the Spirit and the 
Christian Character. The manifestation may come 
forth in the nijidst of passions and desires; it may 
rest in physical conditions, and be fostered; and 
guarded by the Spiritual nature; and there will be 
rejoicing in the heavenly realm over the birth of 
the Child. In the spiritual, mental and physical 
activities of life, the Wise Men and the Higher 
Powers will show reverence and admiration for 
the incarnation of the Archetype — the mystical 
Christ born in the union of Soul and Spirit. 

Prayer and meditation solicit the presence of the 
Christ ; and when Love "is born into tlie soul, shrink 



\ 



364 



LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 



not from recognizing it, for it is this mystical Pres- 
ence that can alone satisfy the desire of the incar- 
nate and longing soul." Sometimes in personal 
experience this truth assumes a very personal as- 
pect. Probably every act is unique, but the one 
who comes in times of spiritual distress, like Love 
on the wings of a great eagle, is highly unique 
with a meaning that completely overwhelms 
thought. Caught up, as it were, in the Spirit, the 
Individual cannot think otherwise than to follow 
the law of the Spirit, with conscious recognition 
of its personal significance in clear perceptions and 
Ideal conceptions. Some one has prophetically 
stated : "The principle embodied in the meditation 
will determine the form! this Presence will assume. 
Sometimes the birth of the Archetypal Man comes 
into the life as a loved one, remaining just long 
enough to awaken the soul into a faint idea of 
that which awaits it." With this birth of the Arche- 
type there is a complete communion of Spirit and 
soul, then the longing soul hungers no more for- 
ever. 

The humanistic spirit in a certain element of 
the church is evident in what a clergyman once 
said; standing in his pulpit, he tried to emphasize 
the conception of human freedom by saying that 
he has "power to stand up and shake his fist in 
the face of God and say, No." Then he lamented 
his condition by saying, "Poor creature and) worm 
of the dust that I am who can say 'no' to God!" 
This exaltation of the conception of the humjan self 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 365 

and independence of Godi, may yet reveal the man 
of sin. 

If these offences must needs come, woe unto 
them by whom they come. In practical human life 
we must have the .authority of the Son, the self- 
sacrificing life of Jesus, the serving attitude and 
devotion to the Christ Ideal, and the Royal con- 
summation of a virtuous life in the freedom of a 
Self-conscious Spirit in the forms, laws and activ- 
ities of symmetry and beauty in the eternal; holy 
with power through co-conscious identity with the 
entire giving up of the will to God, and. the will 
to do the Will of God, and be the living expression 
of His Word and the manifestation of the Divine 
Reason, Love or Logos holding its sceptered au- 
thority over the Universe — like the purifying in- 
fluence of a refining fire. Then follow the radio- 
active transformations of personality in the world 
of human life, into the forms of Absolute Truth 
and Beauty — (health, harmony, strength, happiness. 
Social Self, the Social Consciousness as well as 
Perfect Love, Wisdom, and the holiness of life and 
experience in the clear perception of a seeing Mind 
selects the true and altogether lovely for the ideal- 
istic construction of a completely finished individ- 
ual Self in Perfect Personality. 

The expression of a perfect personality is in the 
actualization of the Highest Ideal of Beauty and 
Perfection. When this is realized in actual expe- 
rience, it is like finding the magnetic pole. We 
feel the need of the other who has helped us to 
this actualization, to join our life as one personal- 



366 



LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 



ity in a closed circle of Ideal friendship; and that 
One most beloved, who is all the world to us, must 
give direction to our practical Ideals. The great 
need is to be constructive in our practical ideals, 
and create a beautiful world, or allow the creative 
activity as a dynamic influence to construct a beau- 
tiful world out of Ideal Experience in thought and 
feeling and ideal perception in actual personal re- 
lations, and then live in true conformity to the 
law of the perfect Ideal. The world of True Being 
actually belongs to all, yet is possessed by none. 
We must be kept in our happy life by a true spir- 
itual insight to the heart of the meanings of things 
and expressions through active and living rela- 
tions. A proud and haughty spirit has ruined 
many a happy life that requires a patient love and 
a penitent heart to regain the lost paradise. 

God unites persons in the Ideal; but men, who 
are the true servants of God, confirm the relation 
in the conventional life of a practical human so- 
ciety. 

A fundamental law of the Christian Conscious- 
ness declares: Knowest thou not that what thou 
dost unto me thou dost unto thyself, and what I 
do unto you I do to myself? It is a law of the 
the Individual ; and you are not likely to transcend 
it, for it is transcendent itself. A heart that has 
ruthlessly been broken cannot contain any love ex- 
cept Divine Love, which is the Wrath of Judgment 
and the Power of Godlikeness and Truth. 

The ascent of ethics always depends on the de- 



IN THE PEKCEPTION OF TRUTH 367 

scent of faith. Faith lays hold on the Struggling 
spirit and shows the way to the mountain great 
and high where the victory over the tempter is won, 
or the Holy City is seen as having the glory ofl' 
God; with a light like unto a stone most precious; 
receiving the ethereal vibrations, separating and 
blending them' with matchless beauty in the har- 
mony of light discriminations. Perhaps the twelve 
gates are twelve senses, and most of mankind is 
only acquainted with six of them. Know ye not 
that your bodies are the temple in whom the 
Spirit of God dwelleth. Christ spoke of the 
temple of his body, and Paul declared, if any 
man defile this temple him shall God destroy. 
The perfect and complete life of the mind opens 
just as surely to the spiritual side as to the 
physical senses. God has established a cove- 
nant between the physical and the spiritual, and 
the ark of the covenant is forever kept within the 
holy of holies. If thine eye be single thy whole 
body shall be full of light, but if the light which is 
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. 
Man created in the image of God has a Social Con- 
sciousness as well as the Individual. In the City 
not made with hands, the seer perceived no tem- 
ple; "For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb 
are the temple thereof. And the City hath no need 
of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it; 
for the glory of God did .lighten it, and the lamp 
thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk 
amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the 



368 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

earth bring their glory into it. And the gates 
thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there 
shall be no night there) : and) they shall bring the 
glory and the honor of the nations into it: and 
there shall in no wise enter into it anything un- 
clean, or he that maketh a lie; but only they that 
are written in the Lamb's book of life." 

What dream of Socialism has ever surpassed 
or equaled this? And the seer has written of 
things that are no dream, but realities that are 
spiritually discerned; yet how far is the actuality 
of human life and the world of fact from having 
realized this Ideal Activity in the Kingdom of 
Heaven ; "When there shall be no curse any more : 
and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be 
therein : and his servants shall serve him." When 
they that worship shall worship in Spirit and in 
Truth. Yet, "They shall see his face ; and his name 
on their foreheads. And there shall be night no 
more ; and they need no light of lamp, neither light 
of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: 
and they shall reign forever and ever." 

Then the seer as if perceiving the pure spiritual 
significance of his vision, quickly swung back to 
the physical plane of Being, and declares : "He said 
unto me, these words are faithful and true : and the 
Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent 
his angel to show unto his servants the things which 
must shortly come to pass." The Spiritual Indi- 
viduality does not overlook the needs of the other, 
but declares, "I Jesus have sent mine angel to tes- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 369 

tify unto you these things for the churches." And 
so readily does the individual follow out the des- 
tiny of his divine law and call, that, though the 
Spirit is joined with the Bride, the one testifying 
these things saith, verily, I come quickly, with the 
convocation, "Amen: come, Lord Jesus." 



VII. 



A DAY OF REST IN FREEDOM THROUGH 
PURE ACTIVITY. 

" Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise 
being left of entering into his rest, any one of 
you should seem to have come short of it. For 
indeed we have had good tidings preached unto 
us, even as also they : but the word of hearing did 
not profit them, because it was not united by faith 
with them that heard. For we who have believed 
do enter into that rest : even as he hath said, 

As I sware in my wrath, 

They shall not enter into my rest : 

although the works were finished from the founda- 
tion of the world." (Heb. 4:1-3.) 

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." 
(Exodus 20:8.) 

In Greek and Latin Christian literature, from 
the very earliest times, the term rf KvptaKij tf/uepa 
has been applied to the first day of the week in its 
religious aspect. 

Let us take a brief historical notice of the term 
Lord's Day itself, the connection of the Lord's Day 
with the Sabbath, the origin of the institution, the 
nature of Lord's Day worship in New Testament 
times, and then let us look at the importance of its 



IN THE PEKCEPTION OF TRUTH 371 

observance and the need it supplies in modern life. 

Some have referred the term to Easter Day, oth- 
ers to the Day of Judgment, but from the Didache 
onwards they used 77 KvpaKrj rjjuepa only in the 
sense of Sunday. There is, however, some special 
significance in the very close relation of Sunday, 
Easter Day and the Day of Judgment. It was on 
the first day of the week that the glad news of the 
resurrection was declared. It is at the House of 
God that Judgment must begin, and "What shall 
be the end of them that obey not the gospel of 
God?" 

"If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, 
blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the 
Spirit of God resteth upon you." And "let them 
also that suffer according to the will of God 
commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful 
Creator." 

In the vision recorded in the Apocalypse, when 
the seer declares, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's 
Day," it is Patmos that gives the place of the vision 
but the Lord's Day naturally seems to fix the time. 
The observance of the Lord's Day was one of the 
things concerning the Kingdom of God spoken of 
by the risen Lord; and there has been a desire, 
as if by instinct, to base on a direct divine sanc- 
tion an institution so universal. 

Whether the first day of the week was blessed 
and hallowed by Christ Himself, or by the Church, 
His visible representative, under the guidance of 
the Holy Spirit, at all events the Lord's Day was 
sanctioned by inspired apostles, and stands on a 



372 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

level with ordination, and is beyond the power 
of the Church to alter or abrogate. 

This pre-eminence of the Lord's Day has unfor- 
tunately in some minds been prejudiced by con- 
troversies on its relation to the Sabbath. This re- 
lation has been thought to be of much practical 
importance and interest by a large class of per- 
sons who think they require guidance in details, 
and who seem to feel that a general direction to 
keep a day holy is too vague, and obligates too much 
individual responsibility. On one hand those who 
hold to a severe observance of the day, identify 
the Lord's Day with the Sabbath, and regard it 
as the same institution with a Christian reference 
added — the change of day is of course immaterial. 
But they often combine with this assumption a 
theory of scriptural Sabbath observance, for which 
there is little evidence from ancient or modern Jew- 
ish life. On the other hand, some of those who re- 
volt from this rigidity feel pressed to justify them- 
selves by a denial of any relation between the two 
days ; and then without any divinely ordained rules 
for its observance they are in danger of not observ- 
ing it at all. These are two extremes and the truth 
is to be found in the inner path that lies between 
the two. The Lord's Day may be regarded as the 
Sabbath and yet as not the Sabbath, much as John 
the Baptist was and was not Elijah. 

When Jesus uttered the cry, "It is finished," the 
old dispensation passed away. His resurrection, 
ascension, and outpouring of the Holy Spirit were 
successive affirmations of the great fact, and the 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 373 

destruction of the temple made it plain to all but 
the blindest. But in the meantime how gently 
were the apostles and Christians of Jewish birth 
taken from the old religion. The dead leaves of 
Judlaism fell off gradually, they were not rudely 
torn off by man. The new facts, the new thoughts, 
the new ordinances first established themselves, 
and then little by little the incompatibility of the 
old and the new was realized. This issued in cast- 
ing off the old non-essentials, and the old heart 
of Judaism was made new in Christianity. It was 
not accomplished by a deliberate substitution of 
one ordinance for another. First the old ordinance 
became antiquated, and experience matured under 
the influence of the Holy Spirit, proving that the 
positive institutions of the new religion more than 
fulfilled those of the old. This was realized first 
of all with the sacramental ordinances, but the 
realization of the fulfilment of the Sabbath in the 
Lord's Day does not find expression in the New 
Testament. The design seems to have been to bring 
out all that Christianity had analogous to the 
cherished rites of Judaism. This is particularly 
marked in the Epistle to the Hebrews where those 
are addressed who were in danger of relapsing into 
Judaism, and could scarcely forego all the asso- 
ciations of the old religion, its antiquity, author- 
ity, splendor, variety. The priesthood, sacrifice, 
the temple, the solemn services, are all shown to 
have their more than parallels in the gospel. The 
Sabbath is regarded as a type of the state of sal- 



374 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

vation for believers to enter upon, a Sabbath rest 
to be consummated in the world to come. 

"The word of God is living, and active, and 
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing 
even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both 
joints and marrow, and quick to discern the 
thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is 
no creature that is not manifest in His sight : but 
all things are naked and laid open before the eyes 
of Him with whom we have to do." 

The Lord's Day is in a special sense the feast of 
life. "The resurrection of Jesus Christ was not 
merely the raising to life of an individual man but 
of human nature." On that first Lord's Day our 
nature actually entered on a^new life, and he was 
the first fruits of it, potentially active for every 
Christian in succeeding ages; not only the life of 
individual members, but also the life of the body 
born on the day of Pentecost, 

With more or less contrast let us remember on 
the Sabbath the repose of the Creator of the physi- 
cal world, and commemorate on the Lord's Day 
the beginning of the activity of the new Spiritual 
Creation. 

Blessed are they who have part in the first resur- 
rection; whose delight it is to be in the Spirit of 
the Lord's Day, to visit the House of God rather 
than dwell in the tents of wickedness, to meditate 
in His Law and renew the divine life communicated 
by the power of Christ's resurrection and exalted 
by hymns of devotion and praise anticipating the 
consummation of this divine life at His coming. 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 375 

When Judaism was in vogue, it is also right and 
well to observe that, among the best element in 
Jewish life, the Sabbath, with all the rules and 
restrictions created by the Rabbis, does not seem 
to be felt as a day of burden and gloom to those 
living under them. "The Sabbath is celebrated by 
the very people who did observe it, in hundreds o^ 
hymns, which would fill volumes, as a day of rest 
and joy, of pleasure and delight, a day in which 
man enjoys some presentiment of the pure bliss 
and happiness which are stored up for the right- 
eous in the world to come. To it such tender names 
w r ere applied as the 'Queen Sabbath/ the 'Bride 
Sabbath,' and the 'holy, dear, beloved Sabbath.' " 

The general attitude taken toward the Sabbath 
by our Lord was that of praise and commendation 
for voluntary observances consistent with its real 
purpose, worshiping and teaching and the activity 
of innocence in a Godlike character. To free it 
from those accretions with which the traditions of 
the elders had obscured it, He emphatically de- 
clares, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man 
for the Sabbath." 

Deeds of mercy were no infringement of its sanc- 
tity; it is "lawful to do good on the Sabbath day." 
But the Sabbath was not as the Rabbis seemed to 
make it, an end in itself, for the sake of which man- 
kind should be subjected, to a number of needless 
and vexatious rules; it was a means to an end., 
the good of the created world, for the development 
of the aesthetic and spiritual life. This end was 
best promoted by a reasonable liberty in the inter- 



376 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

pretation of the statutes relating to it; the multi- 
plication of rules had a tendency not to preserve 
its essential character, but to destroy it. 

There are ways in the observation of the Sab- 
bath or Lord's Day that are essential, but before 
considering these ways of observance here it might 
be well to inquire into the needs of having a Sab- 
bath and some of the grounds for our belief that 
it is not an institution based merely on conven- 
tionalities. It is a necessary institution which has 
its origin and source in Reality and supports a law 
of progress in the development of the race. 

On its practical side it was essentially an insti- 
tution made for man. It was intended for a rest 
from laborious and engrossing occupations, and 
from the cares and anxieties of daily life, and thus 
secure leisure for thoughts of God. The restric- 
tions attached were meant to be interpreted in the 
spirit. It had not essentially an austere and rig- 
orous character. "Its aim was rather to counter- 
act the deadening influence upon both body and 
soul, of never interrupted daily toil, and of con-< 
tinuous absorption in secular pursuit®. " In time 
an anxious then a superstitious dread of profaning 
the Sabbath asserts or asserted itself ; the spiritual 
was submerged in the formal, restrictions were in- 
creased, till at length that which was really im- 
portant and. reasonable was buried beneath a crowd 
of regulations of the pettiest description. 

The observance of the first Day of the week is 
not a substitution for the Jewish Sabbath, but it 
is an analogous institution, and Sunday observance 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 377 

is based on the consecration of that day by our 
Lord's Resurrection, sanctioned by apostolic usage 
and accepted by the early church, as a day set apart 
for similar objects — rest from labor, and the service 
of God — in a manner consonant with the higher 
ethical and spiritual teaching of Christ. 

When the great teacher himself proclaimed that 
man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sab- 
bath for man, he must have meant to impress on 
the minds of the people some great truth regard- 
ing the Sabbath and its observance. He presented 
a truth so general and comprehensive in its reach 
and scope that it seems to apply to all ages of the 
world and conditions of society, and no individual 
can comprehend it fully in all its bearings on life 
and its relations to Christian civilization. There- 
fore our only reliable guide in its observance is the 
Power of correct Judgment. And above all things 
we need to cherish this; for we can have it only as 
we grow in grace, in the likeness of the Divine 
personality. 

Throughout the past the Sabbath has had its 
history. Often it has been disregarded by men of 
perverted judgment and abused by rigid customs 
of superstitious fanatics. It has proved a great 
blessing to those who have observed it worthily, and 
a curse has fallen upon those who have rejected the 
Lord's Day. 

In life we know that the material depends upon 
the spiritual, and the individualized spiritual life 
is related with the physical. And the strongest 
evidence in the utility of Lord's Day consecration 



378 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

is found in the needs and wants such consecration 
supplies in human natue. The Ideal human life 
consists of a threefold development — physical, in- 
tellectual and spiritual. In an active physical and 
intellectual life the spiritual needs and wants must 
be ministered unto ; for the spirit is the life-giving 
power, that brings order and harmony into all ac- 
tivity and leads to higher ideals, or rather a clearer 
conception of an ever-advancing Ideal as the bar- 
riers of limitation are removed. 

While the physical is a basis upon which man's 
own existence rests and grows, yet intelligence has 
to be united with spiritual force in order to shape 
life in agreement with the eternal laws. 

That man may live in such a way as to approach 
the Ideal of perfect manhood, a day of rest has 
been set apart. And since it is appointed for the 
real good and happiness of mankind, it is not set 
apart merely by the decree of man but by the decree 
of God. And since it is the manifestation of a law 
of progress, the good of the individual and the good 
of society demands that it be observed worthily; 
until we step over into the one eternal, endless Day 
of the Spiritual Life, the Day of God. 

How we shall spend it w r ell, each will have to 
decide for themselves. At all events it should be 
spent in such a way as to supply our deepest spir- 
itual wants. This does not necessarily mean a 
strict observance of set rules, but be in the Spirit. 

As we look out over life, how many there are 
who seem 1 never to get much above the physical 
plane of mere animal pleasures that are shared in 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 379 

common with the lower forms of life, and include 
those pleasures connected with physical exercise 
and sports. Then there are others who appreciate 
the higher intellectual pleasures, such as are due 
to the exercise of judgment and the general powers 
of the intellect, both in reflection and action. And 
as we look again we see there are still others in 
whom spiritual pleasures are dominant, pleasures 
that are when man realizes his own spirit and the 
Spirit of the Universe, and know^s their affinity; 
and there arises in consciousness a conception of 
the underlying principles and purposes of nature. 
Probably each one individual has all these quali- 
ties, but in some, one range of qualities may be 
developed out of proportion to the others. People 
engaged in physical and intellectual pursuits and 
vocations in life need a period set apart for 
strengthening the bond that unites all reality and 
good in one grand harmonious activity of obedience 
to law. And even when the perfect manhood is 
found and mankind is dominated by the desire and 
love of what is just and right, a love of the good, 
and life is spent in search of personal good and 
the good of fellowman, there is need of rest at 
times, of retiring from the field of battle where he 
has been leading in the thickest of the fray, trying 
to point out the way of truth and right that is to 
be found in all existence with aid of the light of 
knowledge and revelation. 

Picture the Christ in solitude. Even He, when 
weary and worn with incessant labor to fulfill His 
mission in the world, sought a momentary rest 



380 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

among the mountains alone with His Heavenly 
Father; for rest and special communion with God. 

The Lord's Day is a day of rest. But what is 
rest? Two artists once tried to represent it on 
canvas ; the one pictured a lake, very still and life- 
less, with moss gathered here and there over the 
surface. There is nothing beautiful about it be- 
cause it does not fulfill our idea of the nature of 
rest; the other artist tried to represent a concep- 
tion of rest on canvas also. He pictured a roar- 
ing Niagara and the slender branch of a tree hang- 
ing over the rushing water, above which a robin 
was sitting in her nest. 

Rest is the poise of the soul amidst an environ- 
ment of restless and tireless energy. It involves 
peace and tranquility in the presence of disturbed 
conditions and adversity, in the presence of the 
feverish unrest of society. And we cannot find this 
tranquility until we find the principle of right and 
truth and love, and have built our life upon this. 
In rest there seems two elements present — tran- 
quility, energy; silence, turbulence; fearlessness, 
fearfulness — or designate them as you will, they 
are. hard to describe. An idea of rest is suggested 
by the deep river current that flows smooth and 
tranquil in its course, yet with such volume of 
power; also in the electric current unseen and 
harmless ; under certain conditions lighting up the 
city and dispelling darkness, under others turning 
the ponderous wheel and setting the complicated 
machinery in motion to work. There is tranquility 
and energy that becomes at once destructive when- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 381 

ever its laws are disturbed. So sacred and de- 
termined are the laws of the universe that if har- 
mony is broken up it means destruction and death. 
Just as accurate and powerful are the laws of our 
own life and being, and if we would find peace 
and rest we must know them and abide by theih. 

It is not until man has found rest — that is, the 
tranquil poise of the soul in the midst of adver- 
sity, that he can do his best in life's vocation. 
This state is only found in the spiritually minded, 
the person who really enjoys life; because he knows 
the right and good, and has a yearning desire to 
be upheld and abide by it. The spiritual man is 
the full-grown manhood that is in the fullness of 
life, and is known by the love manifestly going 
forth in the Principle of Righteousness and Good- 
ness — and by the desire to see right prevail; and 
by the pleasure evident through contemplating the 
designs of the world order, and in pointing out the 
way to others — thus is the spiritual man known by 
his friends. 

We rise toward and attain the fullness of life by 
the aid of higher influences. God is infinite, man 
is finite ; and as the limitations are removed, there 
is always something beyond to be revealed. And 
it is through faith we rise into knowledge of that 
which is above; faith guided by the principle of 
truth and the love of wisdom which God has given 
man. And we grow also in the spiritual life by 
the aid of those who have gone before, and left 
their knowledge and experience in records for our 
use. But man can only advance in life as he learns 



382 LOGIC AND IMAGINATION 

to think. And our best method for pointing out 
the way of salvation for mankind, is to help them 
to think for themselves. Henry Ward Beecher 
summed it up very well when he said, "Find out 
the way God is going, and then go in that way." 

For persons who are inclined to do little think- 
ing and speculating on the great laws and forces 
of the world, it might be well to spend leisure on 
Sunday with a little reflection. And those who 
are weary from the toils of active service in life 
will find rest also in reflection, and inspiration from 
the study of the life of some great and good man 
and his works; that the Christ life, which is the Life 
of God in man, may be more fully realized in the 
active consciousness. 

The clue to all that abides and resides in the 
outer world of changing phenomena, as well as 
that which is permanent, is the deep-lying beauty, 
love, truth, goodness. Seek these and you will find 
all the rest. Seek these and your life will become 
a permanent adjustment to the Life and Will of 
God. 

Let every day be a Sunday in the Life of the 
Spirit, but renew the Spiritual Self with the Divine 
Fire in a special way each Lord's Day. The Sun- 
days of man's life, threaded together on the string 
of time, make bracelets to adorn the bride of the 
eternal King. On Sunday the gates of Heaven are 
open, lift up your hearts and the King of Glory 
shall come in. Though the Son of Man is homeless, 
yet he is Lord of the Sabbath ; though despised, re- 



IN THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH 383 

jected, and crucified, yet he is Judge of mankind 
and of tlie universe. 

"The heart is like an instrument whose strings 
Steal nobler music from Life's many frets : 
The golden threads are spun through Suffering's 

fire, 
Wherewith the marriage - robes for heaven are 

woven : 
And all the rarest hues of human life 
Take radiance, and are rainbowed out in tears." 

But the cross is changed to a crown of rejoicing, 
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes." 

"Sundays observe : think w r hen the bells do chime, 
'Tis angel's music; therefore come not late." 



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